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Doubles finalist rewrite history books

July 02, 2005 09:42 IST
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Wimbledon historians will be dusting off their record books on Saturday when Stephen Huss and Wesley Moodie step out on Centre Court as the first qualifiers to reach the men's doubles final.

While 26-year-old South African Moodie's name will be not be unfamiliar, having reached the third round in the singles in 2003, Huss could walk round his home town of Bendigo in Victoria without being noticed.

Reaching the dizzy heights of 807 in the world back in 2001, the 29-year-old Australian has never played a Grand Slam singles match, concentrating instead on doubles.

The pairing have taken some notable scalps on the way to Saturday's showpiece against American twins Bob and Mike Bryan.

Nine-times Wimbledon doubles champion Todd Woodbridge announced his retirement following his and Mahesh Bhupathi's defeat to the debutants in the second round.

In Friday's semi-final they beat last year's champions, Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman and giant Belarussian Max Mirnyi, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6.

"We're unbeaten, we haven't lost a match yet," Huss said after the shock victory. "I think when we walk on the court we'll be confident, we've proven that with this match. There are only two teams so we'll have a chance."

Remarkably the pair had never stepped on court together in a tour level event until they lined-up for the first round of the qualifying competition.

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Source: REUTERS
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