Doubles Date to the Finals : Davis Cup: New partners McEnroe and Sampras win to send the United States to the championship round.

Two guys who had never played a doubles match together picked a good time to get to know each other Saturday.

And so the United States reached another Davis Cup finals, something that is starting to be old hat, sort of like the beat-up white one with the rumpled bill that Andre Agassi wears.

Is this a tennis hat trick?

For the third consecutive year, the United States made it to the finals of the year-long international tennis competition, this time when John McEnroe and Pete Sampras shut down Sweden’s veteran Davis Cup doubles team of Stefan Edberg and Anders Jarryd to clinch the best-of-five semifinal, 3-0, with two meaningless singles matches to be played today.

McEnroe and Sampras, who weren’t even sure they were were going to play together until a team meeting broke up at 1:30 a.m. Saturday, won, 6-1, 6-7 (7-2), 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, in 3 hours 11 minutes.

“With all things considered, I felt like we made the right decision,” McEnroe said.

There was a chance McEnroe, considered by many the best doubles player in history, might not even step on the court Saturday because he had played poorly in practice. Besides, Sampras and Jim Courier had teamed to beat Edberg and Jarryd at the Olympics.

“I think everyone felt it was the best thing,” McEnroe said.

The United States will play in its 58th Davis Cup final and could win for the 30th time when it meets first-time finalist Switzerland, Dec. 4-6, in Ft. Worth.

McEnroe established the early line: “I suspect we’ll win, 5-0.”

But the U.S. victory in doubles wasn’t so clear.

Edberg and Jarryd are regarded as one of the best doubles teams in the world, certainly at returning serves. McEnroe described their return skills as the “best in the world.”

On the other hand, McEnroe and Sampras weren’t exactly a known quantity, at least not as a team. McEnroe’s doubles prowess is no secret, and Sampras’ ability to hit power serves and strong returns is well documented.

But McEnroe and Sampras together?

McEnroe insisted he wasn’t surprised winning was so tough.

“I played a few exhibitions and I knew I might be kind of tired,” he said. “Pete and I had never played before. We were playing against the two best returners in the world. You add all that up and it can add up to potential difficulty. And it did.”

Edberg double faulted at set point in the first set to enable the United States to get on top early, but Sweden got even by controlling the second-set tiebreaker. Edberg and Jarryd won six consecutive points for 6-1 and closed it out on Jarryd’s forehand down the line.

After splitting the first two sets, both teams settled back to see who would crack first. It was Sampras. His double fault at set point gave Sweden the third set.

“It felt like the U.S. Open all over again,” said Sampras, who had 11 double faults when he lost that tournament final against Edberg.

Both teams left the court for a break, but when they returned, Sampras said a change had come over the U.S. duo.

“We just got a little more intense,” he said.

Jarryd lost his serve for a 3-1 U.S. lead and knocked a volley long on set point when Edberg was broken to tie the match at two sets all.

The match turned in the second game of the fifth set, with Edberg serving. At 15-30, McEnroe blistered a winner on a second serve return, then knocked a screeching first serve return that Jarryd put back feebly and Sampras volleyed down the middle of the court.

It was the only break of the set. Ahead 2-0, the United States simply held on to its one-break margin, and McEnroe eventually served for the match at 5-3. Match point arrived after Jarryd returned a serve wide.

McEnroe swiftly ended it with a hard service winner that split the middle of the court.

And so the United States moves on to face Switzerland in another final, after a victory over Australia in 1990 and a loss to France last year.

If McEnroe is named to play in the final, it will be his first appearance in a Davis Cup final since 1984 when the United States lost to Sweden.

In any event, he said what he and Sampras accomplished may have proved something.

“You’re only as good as your last match,” he said. “If there was a question in peoples’ minds, you don’t play doubles all the time. Well, this proves if you put your mind to something, it can happen.”

Davis Cup Notes

Stefan Edberg said he would not play his scheduled singles match today against Jim Courier, which means Magnus Larsson probably will take his place. . . . The U.S.-Switzerland final will be played at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Ft. Worth.

LOST OPPORTUNITY: Pete Sampras still regrets his loss in the final of the U.S. Open two weeks ago. C14