U.S. OPEN

September 6, 1996

Jacco Eltingh

Paul Haarhuis

JACCO ELTINGH: Yeah, that was the difference. I mean, we win by even making one -- if we lose, although, we make one more break than they did, you end up losing that match, so, it is very tough. We felt we played well today. I didn't return as well as I maybe should have in the second and the third set to give Paul a few more chances at Love-15 or 15-30, but the first tiebreaker actually was the difference. We were up 4-3 and good chance to win that point and Todd hits two very lucky volleys, you know, just in front of the line and kind of shanked it, the last one, and Paul hit a good running lob. We ended up losing that point to go up 5-3 in the first tiebreak. That was big.

PAUL HAARHUIS: 8th game?

PAUL HAARHUIS: 8th game in the third set - second set?

JACCO ELTINGH: We played well. We hung in there.

PAUL HAARHUIS: They were playing well too. They were making a lot of returns, so, it wasn't like we were surprised all of a sudden that they were breaking us. I mean, they were creating opportunities. We were coming up with good shots and then they make a break, so we break them back, and, you know, I felt like, hey, we are in it and I thought they were going to close it out in the tiebreak. I mean, we played them two years ago. It was 3, 4 and 6 also.

PAUL HAARHUIS: Yeah, it has been great the past two weeks, but it is just now we have been finished like five minutes from the court and for us, it is like the worst scenario to lose two tiebreakers in the second and third set. I mean, it is like playing them at Olympics. We lost 18-16 in the third set. So, I mean, I guess we had, you know, '94 we won every tournament if we were getting matches that were that close, we won everything also at 7-6 in the third set, so maybe, it is just a little bit more confidence that they have, I don't know.

PAUL HAARHUIS: Yeah, absolutely. We haven't been able to show that this year, but except for these past two weeks and, you know, we were -- I think it is very good over the past four years we have been playing them only in big events, only in the big, like the finals, the semifinals of Grand Slams and World Championships and so it has been always great matchups and so far it has been pretty close and only this year we played them twice and we lost to them twice in close matches, but, yeah, we have been, you know, it has been a great rivalry so far.

PAUL HAARHUIS: We have seen everything. We know they both can -- they have all the shots for doubles, but I mean, one day Todd plays a little better than Mark and some days Mark plays a little bit better.

JACCO ELTINGH: A little bit of luck of the day sometimes. We know what they are doing and they know what we are doing.

JACCO ELTINGH: I don't think he recovered during the match, though, but he made a gutsy performance and, you know, that is what maybe makes him the No. 1 player, but on the other hand, I felt very sorry for Corretja because I mean, he hit one 10 miles an hour and then goes for ace on second serve and Corretja has passing shot there, those matches can make or break a career.

PAUL HAARHUIS: But he didn't come in to tell us, I mean, the press why that happened, so, I mean, I cannot say maybe he is not in the best shape, I don't know. If he says he wasn't -- maybe he ate something wrong before the match. Maybe he didn't. I don't know. That is why he got sick. If he was fine, then maybe he is not in the best shape that he should be, you know, playing the best of fives, you are going to have tough matches against these guys, especially, so I mean -- but I mean, I don't know. I haven't spoken to him, so kind of useless asking us, I think, what we think of it.

JACCO ELTINGH: Not the most interesting. Prefer to win. It was a good match. It is a match where you feel the whole time you cannot let go just for a minute. I mean, not even for a second. They will take you and sometimes against other opponents you feel maybe you have one or two more shots margin especially in the tiebreak, and I think that is probably the difference between Woodies today and the other teams we played before.

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