Doubles a Real Pleasure for Leach

American tennis is alive and well and kicking up a storm in the Australian Open, and that’s not only because of Lindsay Davenport and Andre Agassi.

At least one American was involved in each of the major titles awarded in the year’s first Grand Slam event.

Late Saturday, after 4 hours 21 minutes and a 34-game final set that lasted 2:01, Laguna Beach’s Rick Leach teamed with South Africa’s Ellis Ferreira to take the men’s doubles final. The Leach team won on its fourth match point of the final set, when Australian Andrew Kratzmann, teamed with Zimbabwe’s Wayne Black, could not handle a low return from Ferreira and volleyed it about three inches wide. The score was 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 18-16.

The victory marked the fifth Grand Slam event doubles title for Leach, a 35-year-old former USC star who played for the Trojans under his father, Dick, who is still USC’s coach. Leach won Australian titles in 1988 and ’89 with Jim Pugh, meaning 11 years between titles for him. He has also won four Grand Slam event mixed doubles titles, giving him nine major titles.

Leach and Black had a reason for this match not to go long. Each needed to head immediately for Zimbabwe, where they will play a Davis Cup match this week. Leach will be playing doubles for the United States, filling in for the ailing Todd Martin and teaming with Alex O’Brien. Their doubles opponent will be Black and his brother, Byron, who make up the entire Zimbabwe Davis Cup team.

Leach, who has been quoted as saying he has considered retirement a few times in recent years, arrived in Australia two weeks ago with a No. 5 seeding in men’s doubles; no seeding in the mixed, where he teamed with Amanda Coetzer and lost in the first round; and probably no thought of playing Davis Cup again, where he has a 7-2 doubles record. He left with another Grand Slam event title and a Davis Cup spot.

Byron and Wayne Black also played college tennis at USC, so Dick Leach has tutored 50% of the six players who will be competing next weekend.

Had Wayne Black been on the winning end of the men’s doubles, he would have taken over the No. 1 spot in the world rankings, a position once held by his brother. Apparently, at USC, they teach doubles quite well.

The women’s doubles title was won Friday by American Lisa Raymond and her partner, Australian Rennae Stubbs. They beat Martina Hingis and Mary Pierce in the final, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

Then, today, just before the men’s singles final, Stubbs teamed with American Jared Palmer to win the mixed doubles title over Australian Todd Woodbridge and Spain’s Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, 7-5, 7-6 (3).

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Lindsay Davenport, who played her final with a taped right thigh, has decided to skip next week’s women’s tournament in Tokyo and return home to Newport Beach for treatment on her leg. She said it was the same injury that slowed her in November in the season-ending Chase Championships. . . . Davenport’s victory Saturday was not only her third Grand Slam event title, preceded by the ’98 U.S. Open and last year’s Wimbledon, it was also her third Slam title in which she did not lose a set.

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Jared Palmer, who is ranked higher in men’s doubles than Rick Leach and whose regular doubles partner is Davis Cup participant Alex O’Brien, didn’t get the doubles spot left open when Martin withdrew, and wasn’t sure why captain John McEnroe didn’t call. “I’m not sure why I wasn’t chosen,” Palmer said after his mixed victory, “but Leach is a veteran and has a better Grand Slam record and he’ll be ready and do fine for us.”

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Pete Sampras wasn’t certain of his schedule after returning to Los Angeles for treatment on his injured hip. But he did say that he planned to play at Indian Wells in March, and he also said he thought he would be available for the second round of Davis Cup play, assuming the U.S. beats Zimbabwe.

The second round will be held in Los Angeles, at either UCLA or the Great Western Forum.