2007 Hopman Cup

[Brinyi]

Group A
Germany (The really healthy and in-form team of Nicolas Kiefer and Martina Muller)
United States (The really healthy and in-form team of Venus Williams & Taylor Dent)
Australia (The really healthy and in-form team of Alicia Molik & Mark Philippoussis)
Russia (Nadia Petrova & Dmitry Tursunov)

Group B
Croatia (Sanja Ancic & Mario Ancic, aaaawwww)
Czech Republic (Lucie Safarova & Tomas Berdych)
Spain (The really sexxxy team of Anabel Medina Garrigues & Tommy Robredo)
Winner of the Asian Hopman Cup

[freudo]

LOL just found this
spain vs russia in the final

[Brinyi]

Dent's back is apparently still injured so Mardy Fish will do the honours.

[freudo]

i think vVenus is still injured, too, but maybe she'll play

[Pamela Shriver]

Penis Williams has pulled out due to injury.

But fans, do not fret. Pee will continue playing at her scheduled stops on this year's McDonalds' Tour.

[:rolleyes:]

I'd like to see Zhoosteen play here in stead of Sidneee

[leelee]

Who's gonna play for the US now? Vania?

Eek... she may well be the #1 USian soon too if Meghannn predictably blows like usual.

[GoDom]

Germany has withdrawn. Kiefer still injured.

[Brinyi]

"Teenager Tatiana Golovin, a US Open quarterfinalist this year, and Jerome Haehnel will represent France, with Ashley Harkleroad replacing Williams alongside Mardy Fish in the American team."

[DBBN]

leelee said:

Eek... she may well be the #1 USian soon too if Meghannn predictably blows like usual.

I said this not too long ago. Somewhere in here.

[DBBN]

brinyi said:

Dent's back is apparently still injured

Always a good sign after a honeymoon

[:rolleyes:]

justine needs to play here .. damn her and her crap scheduling

[Pamela Shriver]

leelee said:

Who's gonna play for the US now? Vania?

Eek... she may well be the #1 USian soon too if Meghannn predictably blows like usual.

Why "eek"? She's probably the most talented young US player, and she's not stupid, like most girls her age.

[DBBN]

www.wtaworld.com/forumdisplay.php?f=12&page=2&order=desc

tard said:

Ryan made a great post in the thread abou Venus' withdrawal from Hopman Cup and I felt it deserved a new one; would everyone please stop criticizing her because we know that Larry Scott forces the players to enter the events. Venus HAS to enter, and then she's FORCED to withdraw because she can't play with her injury. I don't get the double standard, everyone praises Davenport for calling out the system, and then jumps all over Venus just because she is being forced to do something. I'm sure Venus wouldn't be entering all of these events if they didn't make her do it.

[DBBN]

Because Larry Scott reeeeeeeeeally wants big stars skipping his Tour events for events he has literally NOTHING to do with

[Pavlyuchenkova]

Group A has some very good matches Can't wait

[janie]

Alicia Molik started with an upset of world number 6 Nadia Petrova 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.

[Brinyi]

So did Poo, over Tursunov.
Fish lost to Haehnel.
The only one that went as expected was Golovin beating Harkleroad.

[janie]

boo to Poo

I hope Fish will play Go at the AO so people can attend the first-ever "Go-Fish" tennis match.

[leelee]

andrew said:

leelee said:

Who's gonna play for the US now? Vania?

Eek... she may well be the #1 USian soon too if Meghannn predictably blows like usual.

Why "eek"? She's probably the most talented young US player, and she's not stupid, like most girls her age.

I like Vania, but she's weak. Of course, I've only watched her against Justine at New York, and Kim at Fed Cup. But, she'll never ever come close to beating top-level players.

[The Chloe]

Haehnel wins at life.

[Brinyi]

Czechs lose as Indians make stunning debut

Tim Clarke, Perth
January 2, 2007

THE upsets kept coming at the Hopman Cup, with the debutant Indian team of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna overcoming the third-seeded Czech Republic in a tense mixed-doubles decider yesterday.

The Indians, who reached Perth only by beating Taiwan in the Asian arm of the mixed team tournament, marked a memorable debut by overcoming Tomas Berdych and Lucie Safarova 10-6 in a match tie-breaker, after an evenly matched 6-3, 5-7 third rubber.

And after No. 1 seed Russia and the defending champion United States both lost on day one, to Australia and France respectively, the destination of the 19th Hopman Cup is now anyone's guess.

Berdych and Safarova, partners on and off the court, recovered from a set and break down to take the mixed doubles to sudden-death, but were then undone by Bopanna's power and Mirza's touch. Afterwards, the Indians were keen to give the credit to each other.

"Rohan played unbelievable in the mixed, I literally didn't have to do much. He was flying all over the court … he had a before we went on," Mirza said. "But I had to let loose also, I couldn't just let the boys hit it."

In stark contrast to his limp showing in the singles earlier in the day, Bopanna looked more at home with some back-up, dominating the doubles net with some smothering volleys.

With Mirza seemingly unfazed by the power of Berdych's serve, her first return from the Czech man was returned with interest down the middle for a clean winner.

After Safarova had smashed her boyfriend in the head with an attempted pass, Bopanna went one better with an errant smash that cleaned up some glassware in a courtside corporate box.

But after the debris had been removed, the lanky Indian went about demolishing Czech hopes.

The key first-set break came in the eighth game, when Bopanna noted Berdych's early move at the net to pass down the line. He then served out the set, with an ace to wrap up the opener.

After the Indians found a seemingly crucial break in the seventh game, a straight-sets upset looked likely. But the Czechs broke back immediately and, with the momentum suddenly reversed, broke Mirza again to take the match into a first-to-10 tie-breaker.

Winning the first three points settled Indian nerves before an ice-cool Mirza lob and clinical volleys from her partner set up the victory.

Earlier in the singles, Mirza enhanced her growing reputation as one of Asia's brightest tennis stars, before Berdych restored some order to the so-far topsy-turvy event.

Berdych made short work of Bopanna, taking only 46 minutes to dispatch the man 268 places below him on the world rankings.

The 6-2, 6-2 scoreline was exactly the same way Mirza had dealt with Safarova, with the 20-year-old needing only eight minutes longer to open the Indian account in its first Hopman Cup appearance.

It continued a run of firsts for Mirza — the first Indian woman to make the third round of a grand slam tournament, the first into the world top 50 and the first Indian to win a WTA event.

AAP

[janie]

Good for them! Very exciting for India.

[Brinyi]

Philippoussis injury curse strikes again

January 3, 2007

The tennis career of injury-prone Australian Mark Philippoussis is once again in serious doubt after he was forced to withdraw from his tie against Frenchman Jerome Haehnel at the Hopman Cup due to a knee injury.

Philippoussis' scratching resulted in Australia losing the tie following Alicia Molik's 7-5 6-2 loss to Frenchwoman Tatiana Golovin, but of much more concern to Tennis Australia officials will be another injury to the mercurial Melburnian.

Sitting in the chair after feeling the injury in the fourth game his tie against Jerome Haehnel, Philippoussis looked a forlorn figure, having had such high hopes coming into 2007.

[Brinyi]

Russia still in hunt

Digby Beacham

January 02, 2007 11:00pm
Article from: The Courier-Mail

TOP seed Russia downed the US 2-1 yesterday to remain in the hunt for a berth in Friday night's Hopman Cup final.

Russia, shocked by unseeded Australia last Saturday, stayed alive in the mixed teams championship when Dmitry Tursunov and Nadia Petrova defeated Mardy Fish and Ashley Harkleroad 6-3, 7-5 in the mixed-doubles rubber.

Fish had extended the tie with his impressive 6-1, 6-4 singles win over Tursunov.

Petrova bounced back from her three-set loss to Alicia Molik to account for Harkleroad 6-3, 6-0, the final set taking just 22 minutes.

Petrova's victory was expected against an opponent who still appears to be struggling with the transition from junior ranks despite being 21.

Petrova is the world's No. 6 and the highest ranked player in Perth, and enters 2007 full of confidence, having won five singles titles last year.

"My serve was much more consistent today. I didn't have as many double faults," said the 24-year-old, who generated eight break points on the Harkleroad delivery.

"Maybe there was one but I felt more confident on my serve. I tried to dictate the game. I tried to put more pressure on. I was more consistent in the rallies and I made fewer mistakes."

Fish committed 62 unforced errors in his unexpected three-set loss to 213th ranked Frenchman Jerome Haehnel on Saturday night, but played a more controlled match yesterday, with his serve proving too tough for Tursunov.

Rebuilding his career following two wrist operations, Fish sent down 13 aces, including four in the final game when he faced four break points.

"I served great today and that wasn't the case the other night," Fish said.

"For me, when I play my best tennis it all starts with my serve."

Tursunov held eight break opportunities but could not convert any as Fish made just 12 unforced errors for the rubber.

The American's booming serve often enabled him to win a cheap point when in trouble.

[Brinyi]

Looks like Russia-France will decide the finalist from that group. Not too surprising to see Tursunov blowing since he had the short off-season after DC,

[leelee]

I watched some of the Mixed. Tursunov doesn't care about this event.

[DBBN]

Dima knows to save his energy for his run to the 2007 Australian Open Championship!

(girls' singles)

Berdych is banging Safarova??

[Brinyi]

Czechs bounce Spain in Perth
By Tim Clarke
January 03, 2007

CZECH duo Lucie Safarova and Tomas Berdych have thrown the destination of the Hopman Cup into further doubt with victory over the fancied Spanish outfit.

After Safarova set up the surprise with an unlikely three-set win over Anabel Medina Garrigues in a marathon 141-minute opener, Berdych produced the latest form book reversal of this year's tournament with a straight-set success against world No.7 Tommy Robredo.

/me is not sure either match was an upset but hey.

And having won their first tie 3-0 against the Croatians, the second-seeded Spanish now face a tricky tie against India tomorrow night to decide if they can continue the country's impressive history in the mixed teams' event.

Berdych said he had been inspired by the form of his girlfriend Safarova in the opening match, which enabled him to repeat the result he achieved over Robredo at the Athens Olympics.

"The first set was so tough, we started the first game and it was so long that I thought we were going to be here until midnight," Berdych said.

"But (Lucie) was playing fantastic, she won a tough match and that helped me go to the court with confidence."

Despite hitting 60 unforced errors in her match, Safarova was also able to convert four of nine break points to record a 4-6 6-4 6-4 win.

And it was the conversion rate of break points in the men's singles - with Berdych winning three out of three and Robredo failing with four chances to penetrate the Czech serve - that set up the 7-5 6-1 boilover.

The couples will now play a dead mixed doubles rubber, which could still have a bearing on the final group standings.

[Brinyi]

Indian pair serve up another upset win

Indian pair Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna delivered a second major upset and gave themselves a shot at a Hopman Cup final berth by bumping off Croatia in Perth on Wednesday night.

Unseeded India snatched a 2-1 victory in a Group B tie after taking out the deciding mixed doubles clash against brother and sister team Sanja and Mario Ancic.

Their surprise victory mirrored their Hopman Cup debut four days ago when they shocked third seeds Czech Republic.

Mirza, 20, took control of her singles match from the outset, sending sizzling aces past 18-year-old Ancic in the first game before wielding a powerful forehand to break the Croatian's serve in the second game.

It set the tone for the rest of the set which Mirza claimed 6-2 in just 27 minutes.

It took her nine minutes longer to take out the second set 6-3, the only blip coming when Ancic broke her serve in the fifth game.

"I knew she hit the ball pretty hard, and, you know, she's going to be great," Mirza said.

"But today I think I was just more experienced ... I have played more in front of big crowds than she has."

It was the third win in three matches for the Indian from Hyderabad who is a megastar in her home country.

But she maintains she and tennis partner Rohan Bopanna are still the tournament's underdogs ahead of Friday's final, after reaching Perth only by beating Chinese Taipai in the Asian qualifying leg of the mixed team tournament.

"I'm going to keep saying we are the underdogs, I think it puts pressure on the others," Mirza said.

Bopanna, ranked No.262, refused to give up serve in both sets, losing the match 6-7 (7-2) 6-7 (7-3) in two tie breaks with Ancic's superior serve a telling factor.

Bopanna maintained his form in the mixed doubles with the Indian partnership coming from behind to win 3-6 6-3 (10-8).

Their win ended Croatia's bid for a Group B finals berth with India needing to beat Spain on Thursday to make the final.

Earlier the Czech Republic took care of second seeds Spain with Lucie Safarova and Tomas Berdych both winning their singles encounters.

All eight teams will be in action on Thursday as they look to seal a berth in Friday's final.