Tennis: Doubles field a bonus

In attracting one of the strongest ATP doubles fields seen in years, organisers of this week's Heineken Open quickly shrugged off any disappointment in losing singles stars Juan Carlos Ferrero and Mark Philippoussis.

The Heineken Open doubles field attracted six of the eight singles seeds, including top seed Fernando Gonzalez, who teamed with fellow Chilean Nicholas Massu, with whom he won the Olympic title at Athens.

In an innovative move, it is planned to play the doubles final on Saturday before the singles final - provided there are no worries about the weather and no player is involved in both.

In past years the doubles have followed the singles final. In many tournaments overseas they have been played in a half-empty stadium.

A change in the scoring format has contributed to the resurgence of the often poor cousin of the men's game.

Rather than play a third-set tiebreaker if the first two sets have been shared, the ATP has now decreed the match will be decided on a match tie-break, with the first pairing to reach 10 points (with a two-point advantage) the winners.

Last night's doubles was the only first-day appearance for Gonzalez at the ASB Tennis Centre.

Singles second seed David Ferrer also had to content himself with a doubles match yesterday. He and fellow Spaniard Albert Montanes were bundled out 3-6, 4-6 by another unseeded pairing, Andrei Pavel (Romania) and Rogier Wassen (Netherlands).

Like Gonzalez and Ferrer, third seed Robby Ginepri will play his first singles today but will take some match practice into it after he and Italian Daniele Bracciali were taken to the new tie-break in bowing out to third-seeded Argentines Jose Acasuso and Sebastian Prieto.

New Zealand doubles wildcards Rubin Statham and Adam Thompson have been handed no favours. They will play second seeds Mahesh Bhupathi (a former world No 1) and Wesley Moodie in the late match tonight.