Mark Woodforde and Sandon Stolle locked up a 45th Davis Cup tennis final appearance for Australia with a gripping five-set doubles win over Brazilians Gustavo Kuerten and Jaime Oncins on Saturday. Stolle ended his Davis Cup heartbreak by serving it out for his first doubles victory at the fourth attempt to clinch a 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph in three hours 25 minutes to wrap up the tie 3-0. He now has the two reverse singles to play Sunday.
And they were given a ringing endorsement by captain John Newcombe who said the semi-final team of Woodforde, Stolle, Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt would be the same for the December 8-10 final against either Spain or the United States. If that is the case, stay away Mark Philippoussis will be overlooked for the final after his controversial withdrawal from the semi-final citing an inflamed knee from his Wimbledon campaign. Newcombe only learned of Philippoussis' unavailability when he rang the Scud at his Melbourne home from London last Saturday forcing a late change of plans for the Brazil tie on grass at ANZ Stadium here.
But it appears his patience with the occasional Davis Cup team member Philippoussis has run out as Newcombe winds down his seven-year tenure as Australian captain with a consecutive final appearance.
"The way we are looking at it right now is that the team that did the job in the semi will be the one that does the job in the final," said Newcombe.
The Australians are expecting Spain to put John McEnroe's weakened US team to the sword in Santander, Spain, next week to set up a final indoors on clay in Barcelona.
Should the Americans pull off an against-the-odds semi-final victory, this year's final will be in Melbourne on hardcourt.
Stolle was chaired off court by his jubilant teammates thrilled because he had broken through for his first Davis Cup doubles win. He had also lost nine consecutive men's doubles finals, including the French Open and Wimbledon, this year.
"There have been a lot of disappointments in Davis Cup, and to finally get through today and to earn a point for the team is a great career highlight," said Stolle.
It was Australia's eighth consecutive winning tie since losing their last home tie 3-2 against Zimbabwe in Mildura in April 1998.
Brazil, who will have to wait for another year to chase their elusive first Cup final, fought back Saturday after their dismal opening day when Kuerten and Fernando Meligeni dropped their singles matches in straight sets to Rafter and Hewitt.
With Kuerten leading the way after being talked into playing by his team overnight after complaining of a groin injury, the Brazilian pair, winners of eight of their last nine Cup matches, looked set to take the semi-final tie into the third and final day.
"We always play well together, and we had a two sets to one lead, some late opportunities, but at least it was closer, we played better today," said French Open champion Kuerten.
"Personally, I feel much better today. I enjoyed myself more than yesterday. We tried hard."
Just when the Brazilians were high-fiving each other and looking the likely winners, Woodforde and Stolle rallied breaking Oncins in the fourth set to level the rubber.
Oncins' serve cracked open and he was broken twice again in the fifth set as Australia took control.
Kuerten had a match point against him on serve in the ninth game before Stolle served it out with two more match points to clinch the semi-final.
"There were a lot of emotions to go through in that long last game. I made all my first serves that game, and the ball kept coming back, they hit a few let-cords and it was a tremendous high to win it," said Stolle.
Woodforde, who broke his short-lived retirement to play against Germany in the quarterfinals in Adelaide last April, stands at 17-4 in Davis Cup doubles - (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
