HARTFORD, November 21: The Dutch pair Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis were the first to secure a semi-final berth when they posted another easy, straight set win in the $ 500,000 ATP World Doubles Championship.

The second seeds were clinical in their demolition of Indian hopefuls Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, racing to a 6-3, 6-2 win in just 52 minutes in the second of their three round robin matches. ``We played well, almost perfect,'' Haarhuis said.

The other unbeaten team are the Aussies Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, who dropped a set while beating Rick Leach and Jonathan Stark 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-5) in two hours, 19 minutes.

In other matches, Sebastien Lareau and Alex O'Brien beat Don Johnson and Francisco Montana 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 while third-seeded Ellis Ferreira and Patrick Galbraith downed Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 7-5 to keep their hopes of qualifying for the last rounds alive.

Knowles and Nestor saved one match in the second set tiebreak and led 4-2 in the final set before Ferreira and Galbraith won five of the last six games. But Knowles aggravated a rib injury in the 112-minute match, forcing his retirement from the tournament. The standby team of American Trevor Kronemann and David MaCpherson of Australia will take their place for the last round-robin match tonight against Bhupathi and Paes.

The tournament rules stipulate that in the case of a two-way tie, the head-to-head result will count, which means Paes and Bhupathi are ahead of Ferreira and Galbraith in that situation. In the case of a three-way tie, sets won-lost ratio will come into play.

RESULTS: Eltingh/Haarhuis (Neth) beat Paes/Bhupathi (Ind) 6-3, 6-2; Knowles/Nestor lost to Ferreira/Galbraith 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 5-7; Lareau/O'Brien beat Johnson/Montana, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Woodbridge/Woodforde beat Leach/Stark 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-5)How Paes-Bhupathi can make semis

* If Eltingh/Haarhuis beat Ferreira/Galbraith and Paes and Bhupathi beat Knowles and Nestor

* If Ferreira/Galbraith beat Eltingh/Haarhuis and Paes/Bhupathi beat Kroneman and Macpherson, it will be a three-way tie with 2-1 win-loss record. So Paes and Bhupathi need to win in straight sets to ensure they move into the semis.

* If Eltingh/Haarhuis beat Ferreira/Galbraith and Kronnerman/Macpherson beat Paes/Bhupathi, it will be a two-way tie with a 1-2 win-loss tie for the second place. In that situation Paes/Bhupathi go through because of their head-to-head result against Ferreira/Galbraith.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.