TENNIS / MEN AT LOS ANGELES : This Dream Team Bows Out

Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras breathed some life into the doubles competition in the Volvo/Los Angeles tennis tournament, pairing to form the most attractive team in the field.

Seeded 1-2 in singles, Edberg and Sampras drew a standing-room-only crowd to the grandstand court at UCLA Wednesday for their second-round doubles match against South Africans Piet Norval and Wayne Ferreira.

In fact, their appearance caused quite a commotion.

When word got out that Edberg and Sampras would be playing on the grandstand court instead of in the stadium because a singles match between Gary Muller and Scott Davis on the stadium court was running long, the crowd couldn’t leave the stadium fast enough.

The stands in the smaller grandstand court quickly filled, shutting out about 100 fans, whose only option was to watch from the top of the stadium court, where they lined the south rim and two stairways.

Then, after Davis completed a 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-3 victory over Muller, security guards cleared the stadium for a night session, enraging those who hadn’t gotten a seat at the grandstand court.

A shouting match ensued, interrupting the action below.

All of which left some wondering when a doubles match had last evoked such emotion and interest.

But the match failed to live up to expectations.

Norval and Ferreira broke Edberg’s serve twice in the first set, once more in the third and won, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Edberg and Sampras, who upset the third-seeded team of Muller and Danie Visser on Monday, were making their U.S. debut as a doubles team.

Was it disappointing?

“A little bit,” said Sampras, who seemed less concerned with the outcome of the match than with the fact it ended later than he had planned, cutting into his preparation time for a singles match today against Shuzo Matsuoka. “We played a team that was pretty good. I was a bit surprised.”

Sampras said that he and Edberg were paired by their agents, who put them together last year to play in the Queen’s Club tournament in London, a Wimbledon tuneup. They reached the quarterfinals in London last year, then made it to the semifinals this year.

“He lost in the first round of the French (Open) and wanted to start playing some doubles matches,” Sampras said of Edberg, recalling their initial pairing. “I was available, and I was more than willing to play with him.”

Said Sampras, who will begin defense of his U.S. Open championship later this month in New York: “I wanted to play more matches. And, obviously, playing with Stefan, we hoped to do pretty well.

“Unfortunately, we lost.”

Why is it that so few of the sport’s big names play doubles?

“It’s a lot of tennis,” Sampras said. “A lot of the top players play doubles when it makes sense to play doubles--if they need a couple more matches. For Stefan, this was his first tournament back on hard court, so he decided to play. I don’t see him playing (doubles) next week.”

Nor will Sampras. “With my shin splints, I don’t want to play too much on hard courts,” he said.

So, for doubles fans, the pairing of Sampras and Edberg, a two-time Wimbledon champion, was a rare treat. Edberg and countryman Anders Jarryd formed the world’s No. 1 doubles team in the mid-1980s, but Edberg has curtailed his doubles participation in recent years.

Edberg and Sampras, though, probably will team again.

“I would hope so,” said Sampras, adding that he had learned from his more seasoned partner. “It’s kind of interesting to see where he serves and what he thinks. He’s such a great serve-and-volleyer and, obviously, just a great player. He’s one of the smarter players on the tour.”

Recently, though, Sampras sought an even more experienced partner. He will play doubles in two tournaments this fall with John McEnroe.

Such a pairing at UCLA might have caused a stampede.

Tournament Notes

In the featured singles match of the afternoon, fourth-seeded Brad Gilbert beat unseeded Frenchman Jean-Philippe Fleurian, 7-6 (6-3), 6-0. . . . Gilbert was not selected to play for the U.S. team that will meet Germany next month on clay in a Davis Cup semifinal at Kansas City, giving way to clay-court specialists Jim Courier and Andre Agassi. “My results don’t merit me playing on clay,” Gilbert said. “I’d rather be watching on the sidelines for the next match because the guys that are playing are the guys that deserve to be playing.”