TEAM TENNIS PLAYOFFS : Bergh Upstages Connors to Lead Dukes Past Phoenix, Into Final

Nobody came to watch Rikard Bergh. They were there for Jimmy Connors, who plays to the crowd in World TeamTennis while using a bright pink racket. A joke, a laugh, a gesture. Jimmy knows how to turn on the crowd with his antics.

Bergh, on the other hand, relied on something much more basic Saturday--shot-making. In the end, he was as worth watching as Connors.

Bergh, a 27-year-old Swede, stunned Connors with some sensational shots in the TeamTennis Western Division finals and defeated the league’s marquee player, 6-5, to lead the Dukes past the Phoenix Smash, 29-26.

The Dukes (14-1) will play the Wichita Advantage (9-7) for the WTT title at 10 a.m. (PST) today.

Down, 5-3, with Connors serving for the set, Bergh hit six sensational passing shots in back-to-back games to force a tiebreaker at 5-5. Bergh won the tiebreaker, 5-3, sending organizing officials away muttering; a number of ticket sales for the final went out the door with Connors and the Smash.

Bergh and Connors started their set with the Dukes leading, 17-16. But no one expected them to be ahead when Connors was through. After all, he had a league-best 13-2 singles record and had beaten Bergh handily twice this season.

But Bergh was a different player this time. He knew it. Connors knew it.

“It felt good to save my best set (of the season) for now,” Bergh said. “I just wanted to stay out there as long as I could.”

Said Connors: “What can I say? He hit some outstanding shots. He zoned for one set. I’m not going to go back and give myself a lobotomy. . . . I’ve played finals on Wimbledon where guys did that to me.”

Bergh, who has never been higher than 158th in the world singles rankings, pushed the Dukes’ lead to 23-21 with his victory. That left the mixed doubles team of Trevor Kronemann and Manon Bollegraf to wrap up the match, and they did with a 6-3 victory over Ellis Ferreira and Mary Lou Daniels.

The Dukes won four of the five sets in the match, which was delayed twice by rain and then moved inside. Three Duke victories were on tiebreakers.

“Rikard’s win was the match right there,” Duke Coach Greg Patton said. “We were just praying Rikard would get it to the tie-breaker. St. Peter must have been looking down from the Pearly Gates.”

Phoenix Coach John Lloyd figured someone up above was looking down on the Dukes, all right. He was convinced they didn’t win on talent and erupted with a volley of contempt for Bergh and the Dukes after the match.

“He hit passing shots he’s never hit in his life,” Lloyd said. “Outdoors that never would have happened. Unbelievable. I tried as long as possible to keep the match outside, but it was a bloody monsoon.

“It’s beyond belief why they are 13-1 (actually 14-1). They’re not that good.”

Lloyd wouldn’t dare say the same about Kronemann and Bollegraf. They fell behind Ferreira and Daniels, 0-2, and then rallied to win six of the next seven games. Kronemann finished off the Phoenix pair with four consecutive aces.

It was the first match back for Bollegraf, who injured her ankle July 15. She and Kronemann, the men’s co-MVP of TeamTennis with Connors, raised their record to 31-8, the best mixed doubles record in the league.

“The name of the game is doubles in TeamTennis,” Patton said. “Doubles doesn’t get the same recognition as singles, but it should.”

In women’s doubles, the Dukes’ Katrina Adams and Bollegraf won, 6-5 (5-1), over Carrie Cunningham and Daniels. In women’s singles, Adams beat Cunningham, 6-5 (5-3), and Connors and Ferreira won the men’s doubles, 6-5 (5-3).

The winning team in today’s championship match will split $22,000.