Martinez Sanchez beats Oudin to give Spain a 1-0 lead over Americans at Hopman Cup

Spain takes 1-0 lead over US in Hopman Cup

PERTH, Australia — Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez beat Melanie Oudin of the United States 6-4, 6-4 Sunday to give Spain a 1-0 lead at the Hopman Cup mixed teams tennis tournament.

Martinez Sanchez, a serve-and-volleyer, had her service broken by Oudin, the 18-year-old U.S. Open quarterfinalist, for the first time while serving for the match at 5-2.

In the final game, the Spanish player faced two break points before clinching the match.

American John Isner was scheduled to play Tommy Robredo of Spain in men’s singles, with Oudin and Isner to take on Martinez Sanchez and Robredo in mixed doubles later Sunday.

Romania beat Australia 2-1 Saturday to open the eight-country tournament. On Monday, Britain, led by No. 4 Andy Murray, plays Kazakhstan, while Germany takes on Russia.

Murray will team with 15-year-old Laura Robson against the Kazakhstan pair of Andrey Golubev and Yaroslava Shvedova.

Murray has altered his Australian Open preparations this year, giving up a chance to defend his crown at Doha, Qatar, in order to get used to Australian conditions before arriving in Melbourne.

The 22-year-old Murray has won the past two titles in Doha and reached the final in 2007, but has failed to make it past the Australian Open’s round of 16 in that time.

Murray felt he would harm his chances in Melbourne if he played in Doha again.

“It’s a bit to do with the heat (in Australia) but also jetlag,” Murray said on Sunday. “Because I played well in Doha I finished on Saturday night … and didn’t arrive in Australia until Tuesday morning or late Monday evening.

“Then you only get two or three days decent practice in before the tournament. So I just wanted to get here a little bit earlier to get used to the heat, to get over the jetlag and get used to the courts because the surface is a lot different to the one in Doha.”