Spain in third Hopman final with singles sweeps
By DPA, IANSThursday, January 7, 2010
PERTH - Two-time champion Spain barrelled past Australia Thursday to set the stage for a possible Hopman Cup trophy hat trick with a defeat of the hard-luck hosts 2-0.
Tournament debutante Maria-Jose Martinez Sanchez assured her tennis powerhouse nation of a place in Saturday’s final of the eight-nation, mixed-team event through a 6-4, 6-1 defeat of Australian Samantha Stosur.
That was all it took with Australia entering the day needing to win all three matches in straight sets.
Experienced Hopman campaigner Tommy Robredo, playing for the third time, rolled off-the-boil Lleyton Hewitt 6-2, 6-4, with the Australian taking treatment on his right hip after going down in the first set.
“I served pretty well, and he gave a lot of chances,” said the undefeated Robredo, who won the title in 2002 alongside Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. “Lleyton was not 100-percent fit.
“I got the chances, and I won. He started to push harder in the second set, but I served great, so it was good. My game is getting faster this week. That has been the key.”
Spain also won the trophy in 1990, beating the United States in the event’s second edition.
The Martinez Sanchez result ended any hopes for the hosts, who have won only one title in 22 editions - in 1999 through Mark Philippoussis and Jelena Dokic.
“This is a great victory for me,” said Martinez Sanchez, who ended 3-0 in her singles matches. “I played really well. I don’t know how I did it at the start of the season, … but I worked really hard. I suffered during my off-season training.”
Martinez Sanchez broke a shaky Stosur in the seventh game of the opening set, eventually seizing the set and sweeping to victory with a runaway second.
The winner fired six aces and 27 winners while Stosur collapsed, losing four serves and slumping to 24 unforced errors.
Robredo is keen to claim another of the diamond-studded tennis balls given to tournament winners.
“We are very close to those, just one match away,” he said. “It was strange to play my match when we knew we had already made the final. We were checking the numbers before the start. We’re not so good at maths, so we decided it would be safer just to win our matches.”
In a tie with no significance on the outcome of Group A, American Melanie Oudin beat Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-3.
But with Victor Hanescu out with a groin injury from Tuesday, the men’s rubber was not played, giving the five-time champion United States a 2-0 win.
Opposing group B is to be decided Friday when Russia play Britain and Germany face Kazakhstan.
