NEWS
MATCH REPORTS
STAT SHEET
DIARY
SLIDE SHOW
PEOPLE
DEAR REDIFF

Paes, Bhupati in last four

In Hartford, Connecticut, the top seeded and seemingly unconquerable pairing of Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge of Australia fell 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 to sixth seeds Sebastien Lareau and Alex O'Brien at the $500,000 ATP Tour World Doubles Championship.

Lareau, a Canadian, and O'Brien, an American, swept two sets from their Australian counterparts, avenging a loss in last year's final. They are 2-6 against the "Woodies", who failed to advance to the final for the first time in seven years.

Interestingly, a year ago this same day, Lareau and O'Brien defeated the Australians in the first round of this same tournament.

Second seeds Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands defeated third seeds Ellis Ferreira of South Africa and Patrick Galbraith of the United States, 7-6, (7-1), 6-7 (5-7), 6-2.

Eltingh and Haarhuis thus become the only team to go through the round robin undefeated, having earlier secured their semifinal berth following their straight-set victory over the fifth-seeded Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes.

Bhupathi and Paes meanwhile moved into the semifinals with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory over alternates Trevor Kronemann of the United States and David MacPherson of Australia, and will now face Lareau and O'Brien in Saturday's semifinals. The Indians, who took two of three matches in the round robin, hold a 2-1 advantage against the Lareau-O'Brien pairing, including a win over them in the Paris final two weeks ago.

The team of Kronemann and MacPherson had replaced seventh seeds Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Canadian Daniel Nestor, who withdrew today. Knowles aggravated a stress fracture in his rib during Thursday's three-set loss to Ferreira and Galbraith. Knowles and Nestor dropped both of their matches in the round robin.

Fourth-seeded Americans Rick Leach and Jonathan Stark downed eighth-seeded countrymen Donald Johnson and Francisco Montana 6-3, 6-4 to clinch a spot in the semifinals. They will now battle Eltingh and Haarhuis, on Saturday. The Dutch duo holds a 2-1 series advantage, including wins at this season's Montreal and New Haven finals.