Todd Woodbridge collected an ATP tour record 79th career doubles title yesterday when he partnered Jonas Bjorkman to a 7-6 (3), 7-5 win over American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan in the adidas International final.
Woodbridge ended last season at 78 doubles titles, tied for the Open era record with retired Dutchman Tom Okker. He won four doubles titles last year, including Wimbledon and the US Open, to overhaul second-place John McEnroe (77).
Sydney, the second tournament of his 17th season on the pro tour, was the perfect place to set the new mark, he said.
"It's a pretty special moment for me. I was nervous about today. I played pretty well and I'm happy," said Woodbridge, who closed the match on serve when Bob Bryan's forehand went long.
"It couldn't be a better script for us. I tied the record in Stockholm last year in Jonah's home town. To pass the record here in my home town is magnificent."
The Bryans had set point at 30-40 and a chance to level at one set apiece in the 10th game of the second but Bjorkman fired an ace to force deuce and then held for 5-5.
After breaking the Bryan serve in the 11th game, Woodbridge didn't drop a point in the last game as he captured the championship.
The 32-year-old Australian raised his arms triumphantly and then hugged his Swedish teammate in mid court. He waved at his wife, Natasha, and friends in the capacity crowd at the Sydney International Tennis Center.
"I've got to tell you, I'm a little happier and fulfilled than I thought I would be about today," he said. "I don't know what I expected, but it was a full house who knew what they were watching today, you know, the verge of breaking a record and seeing a part of tennis history.''
Woodbridge has 15 Grand Slam doubles titles, third on the all-time list behind fellow Australians John Newcombe (17) and Roy Emerson (16).
He said he was targeting Newcombe's doubles record, which includes Grand Slam titles before the Open era (pre-1968).
"I want to continue to win. I guess the next goal I'll set myself is owning the most Grand Slam titles. I have the most in the Open era, but in terms of Open era and combining Open and amateur, I'm still chasing Newk," Woodbridge said.
"He's one of the great Aussie champions that I admired as a young player. He's still got something on me that I can try to achieve."
Woodbridge and Bjorkman will be among the top four seeded pairs at the Australian Open next week.
Woodbridge won 61 of his 79 titles with compatriot Mark Woodforde, and together the Australians were ranked No. 1 at the end of the 1995, 1996 and 1997 seasons. The "Woodies" were the most successful doubles combination ever on tour, and won the doubles gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Woodbridge has won 12 titles with Bjorkman, including four majors, since Woodforde retired after the Sydney Olympics.
A dedicated doubles specialist since 2002, Woodbridge's best singles achievement was a Wimbledon semifinal appearance in 1997. He reached a career high No. 19 in the ATP singles entry rankings in the same season.
Winning so many doubles titles wasn't his original intention, so getting the record was more about satisfaction than relief.
"To be able to say that I won more than anybody in the history of doubles tennis is something I never began in my career to go after; but I got there, and I'm pretty happy with that," he said.
Woodbridge helped Australia to a Davis Cup final win over Spain at Melbourne in December and went 4-0 in doubles at 2003 Davis Cup matches.
Outside of tennis, Woodbridge is a keen golfer and caddied for fellow Australian Ian Baker-Finch in the 1997 British Open.
Adidas International
Third-seeded Carlos Moya injured his right ankle and was forced to quit in the first set against Lleyton Hewitt. The injury put Moya in doubt for the Australian Open, which starts Monday.
Top-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium won the women's title, beating third-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France 6-4, 6-4. Earlier Saturday, Mauresmo beat Italy's Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 7-6 (2) in a rain-delayed semifinal.
"It's the first victory of the year. that's great, because it's a very good start," Henin-Hardenne said. "It gives me confidence before the Australian Open."
Woodbridge broke the mark he shared with Dutchman Tom Okker.
"It's a pretty special moment for me. I was nervous about today. I played pretty well and I'm happy," said Woodbridge, who closed the match on serve. "It couldn't be a better script for us. I tied the record in Stockholm later year in Jonas' hometown. To pass the record here in my hometown is magnificent."
Henin-Hardenne broke Mauresmo once in each set and needed four match points on serve before clinching the Australian Open tuneup event with a big first serve that forced a Mauresmo error.
She said it was the ideal warmup for her campaign at the Australian Open, where she's seeded No. 1 in a women's draw depleted by injuries.
Moya, the 1998 French Open champion and runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open, rolled over on the outside of his ankle attempting a forehand from the back right edge of the court.
The 27-year-old Spaniard was down a break at 4-3 when he fell to the court. Moya played four more points after having his ankle and foot heavily taped, and was trailing 40-15 on Hewitt's serve when he pulled out.
Moya was seeded sixth for the Australian Open, which starts Monday, and was due to meet American James Blake in the first round.
"Lleyton was playing very well and even at 100 percent it was going to be tough to beat him, so congratulations," said Moya. "I hope I'm going to get better for next week.''
Moya was taken to hospital for scans. An ATP spokesman said the best-case scenario for Moya was a bad sprain after preliminary x-rays didn't show any fracture.
"I don't know how it's going to be," Moya said. "I'm going to get x-rays now and see. I hope it's not going to be really, really bad ... but it really hurts a lot."
It was Hewitt's third title in Sydney. The former No. 1 won back-to-back championships in 2000 and 2001.
The former No. 1 said it was a high standard match before Moya was injured.
"I felt my game had really gone up a notch today,'' he said, ``even though it was only seven games, I had to fight off a couple of break points early ... did that well at the tougher end."
Hewitt said the hot conditions made the Rebound Ace surface sticky, but added he couldn't be sure the court led to Moya's injury.
The women's doubles final was rained out on Friday night. The players returned Saturday with Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Australia's Rennae Stubbs combining for a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 win over American Meghann Shaughnessy and Russia's Dinara Safina.
Commonwealth Bank International
An unusually error-prone Andre Agassi lost to Argentina's David Nalbandian in Saturday's final at the Commonwealth Bank International, an annual tuneup tournament for the Australian Open.
Nalbandian, who knocked off top-ranked Andy Roddick a day earlier, broke Agassi's serve four times and constantly pressured the American in a 6-2, 6-3 win.
Roddick withdrew from a consolation match against second-ranked Roger Federer of Switzerland, saying he had foot blisters. Federer beat Alex Corretja 7-5, 6-2 later Saturday at the exhibition event in a match featuring a mock mooning from the Spaniard.
Fourth-ranked Agassi was let down by a wayward first serve, and double-faults played key roles in three of the four breaks. After appearing to be in mid-season form while beating Federer on Friday, he consistently missed would-be winners by inches on a blustery day.
The 33-year-old Agassi, seeking his ninth Grand Slam title and fifth Australian Open crown, called it a tough day against a rising star.
"I was pressing in a number of parts of my game today. I was pretty lucky to get the five games I got," Agassi said. "Today was a tough day, no question. I felt I played well. He played well on the big shots. I found myself appreciating his shots quite often out there today."
Asked what he might take from the loss if he were to meet Nalbandian again in the season-opening Grand Slam, Agassi laughed.
"Hopefully, I'll take nothing from today into that match," he said.
A counterpuncher, Nalbandian relies heavily on speed and court coverage. That could serve him well in a tournament like the Australian Open.
Asked if he feels he is now one of the favorites for the two-week event, the 2002 Wimbledon finalist grinned and said: "Could be."
Agassi squandered five break points in the first game and wouldn't get another chance until he was down one set and a break in the second.
"I thought, `Oh, my God, this is going to be tough,'" Nalbandian recalled of the first game.
Federer, who had looked rusty and started slow in both of his first two matches here, found himself down 5-2 in the first set against Corretja before running off nine games in a row to take command.
Down 4-0 in the second set, Corretja hit what appeared to be a winner, but Federer made a lunging backhand pickup that barely dropped over for a winner.
A disbelieving Corretja stared briefly, then turned his back to Federer and pulled down his shorts, showing off his white underwear. Federer was laughing so hard that he had to delay the next point. But ultimately it didn't put him off his game.
Canberra Classic
Top-seeded Paola Suarez of Argentina took advantage of an umpire's overrule on a match point to beat Silvia Farina Elia of Italy 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the final of the Canberra Classic tennis tournament yesterday.
Chair umpire John Blom overruled a linesman to call Farina Elia's ball out on match point, a decision which cost her a fourth WTA title.
Holding a 6-5 lead and up 40-30 in the 12th game of the third set, Farina Elia thought she had the match won when Suarez failed to return her ball.
But 27-year-old Suarez called the ball out and, despite no word from the linesman, the umpire agreed.
"I say it was out," Suarez said. "Then the chair umpire say it was out, you had the mark there. It was really close but I saw it was out."
Farina Elia showed her displeasure with the result when she entered the post-match press conference and removed the crystal winner's cup from the interview table.
She said the umpire, a Canberra official, failed to treat the controversial call as a match point.
"To overrule the match point, the ball must be very, very out but the call was very late," Farina Elia said. "This is part of the game, I know, but it's hard because I don't know if the ball was good or not but ... it's really difficult to see."
It was Suarez's first win in three matches against Farina Elia.
"Every set, she started to play really well ... and then I come back a little bit, I play a little bit better," Suarez said. "The last few games was really, really close.
"The winner was only one ball and I was lucky."
Heineken Open
Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia won his second straight ATP Tour title Saturday, beating Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the final of the US$404,000 Heineken Open.
Winner of the AAPT Championships in Adelaide last week, the unseeded Hrbaty claimed his sixth title from nine finals and his second from three final appearances in Auckland.
Hrbaty won the Auckland title in 2001 and was runner-up last year to Gustavo Kuerten, the third-seeded Brazilian whom he beat in Friday's semifinals.
Nadal, a 17-year-old playing his first ATP final, was a service break up in the deciding set.
"I was very tired in the final," said Hrbaty. "In the first set I didn't think I could do it because I was feeling so tired after Adelaide and he was making me run around so much.
"There was just a special moment in the match when I told myself I had to win."
Nadal made a tentative start to the match and gave up his serve on an unforced error at advantage in the opening game. He struggled at first against Hrbaty's deep and sharply-angled ground strokes and the Slovakian's ability to make the ball skid low on the Rebound Ace surface.
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