Sunday, January 06, 2013
Spain overcome Djokovic and Ivanovic for Hopman Cup shock
PERTH (Reuters) - Spain secured a surprise victory in the Hopman Cup with a comeback triumph against Serbia in the final of the mixed teams event in Perth on Saturday.
Fernando Verdasco and Anabel Medina Garrigues beat the more fancied pairing of Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic 6-4 7-5 in the deciding mixed doubles to secure a 2-1 win.
Fernando Verdasco (L) and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain hold up the Hopman Cup after defeating Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the final of the Hopman Cup tennis tournament in Perth January 6, 2013. REUTERS/StringerWorld No.1 Djokovic had already defeated Verdasco 6-3 7-5 in the opening singles before Medina Garrigues survived a tense clash against Ivanovic, 6-4 6-7 6-2.
"Thanks to Fernando because without him, the doubles would have been impossible," Medina Garrigues said.
Verdasco led Djokovic 3-0 in the second set of their singles rubber before being overhauled. "It's difficult to play against a player like him," Djokovic said. "He's very aggressive and serves over 200kmh."
Djokovic is chasing his third successive Australian Open at Melbourne Park from January 14.
He suffered a shock loss to Australia's Bernard Tomic during the round robin stage of the Hopman Cup but recovered with back-to-back singles wins against Andreas Seppi and Verdasco.
(Writing by Will Swanton in Brisbane; editing by Stephen Wood)
- Chong Wei urges team-mates to bounce back from shock defeat to Taiwan
- Koo-Tan’s stunning loss rocks Malaysian camp
- Danial shatters 100m mark as four records fall on opening day
- Kien Keat-Boon Heong may not play in Group C tie against Germany
- Sindhu shines for India after spectacular performance
- Golf: Johnson triumphs by one stroke at Mobile Bay LPGA
- Dani reigns in Le Mans
- Wee Wern relishes playing at unique venue ... a football stadium
- KLHC to the fore again
- Kjaersfeldt ready to continue strong Danish tradition
- Sarawakian Daniel makes a winning return from injury
- ‘Comeback king’ Timothy lands his second title
- Pistorius rules out track return this year - report
- Seven more Al Zarooni horses test positive
- Lowe reunited with Hamilton at Mercedes
- F1 tyre changes to be less dramatic than feared
- Golf: Johnson triumphs by one stroke at Mobile Bay LPGA
- Results worldwide
- Bradley clings to lead in Texas with surging Korean one stroke adrift
- Classy Williams sweeps Azarenka aside in final
RSS
