2011 Hopman Cup: Review Session 6 – Serbia vs. Australia
Following Belgium versus Kazakhstan on the courts were the top seeds Serbia taking on the locals. Representing their countries at the event, sixteen players in teams of two are participating at the 2011 Hopman Cup in Perth this
week.
Kicking off the sixth session was Ana Ivanovic as she played Alicia Molik in a women’s singles match. Having appeared in 2006, Ivanovic returns to the event after four years for her second participation. Molik, on the other hand,
is a veteran at the Hopman Cup appearing for the sixth time this year. She was part of team Australia from 2003-05 and then from 2007-08.
Ivanovic enjoys a 2-0 mark in the event so far having won her opening clash against the Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova. Although a hard fought battle, Ivanovic was able to enjoy a straight set victory over Shvedova. Molik, on the other
hand, came into the match with a 0-1 mark having lost to Justine Henin in her opening clash.
Winning the toss, Molik opened serve in the first set. Winning games on their service and breaking each other’s service once, the score was tied until 4-4. In the ninth game, Ivanovic broke through Molik’s serve after seven deuces
to go 5-4 before winning the set 6-4 on her service. The Serb then raced to a bagel win in the second giving the Aussie no time to hold her ground.
Winning the match, Ivanovic said, "I think it was high class tennis considering it is just the beginning of the year, but I’m really happy that I managed to win the first set. It was very important to break to be four-all, especially
after losing my serve.”
Ivanovic’s win gave Serbia a 1-0 lead over the locals. Next up on the courts were Novak Djokovic and Lleyton Hewitt.
Having debuted in 2006, Djokovic is participating for the third time at the event while this is Hewitt’s third straight participation at the event.
Djokovic opened serve in the opener and the two managed to keep the score tied until 2-2. Catching a lucky break in the fifth game, Djokovic won four straight games to bag the first set 6-2. Continuing his form in the second set,
Djokovic won it 6-4 although at one point it seemed the match would go into decider with Hewitt winning the second set.
After the match, Djokovic said, "It was a bit unlucky for me in the end, but that’s tennis, it was a great point. To be honest even though the result looks like a comfortable win, I had to work for my points and it was a long match.
It was a difficult encounter, I was aware of that. Anywhere you play Lleyton, especially in Australia, you are always going to get a very difficult one.
Winning his match against Hewitt, Djokovic won Serbia the tie making this Serbia’s second victory at the event. The Serbian pair also won the mixed doubles in another match tiebreak making this their second perfect victory for
the event. Although they lost the first set by a close 6-7, the Serbs bounced back in the second winning it 7-5. They eventually won the tiebreak 10-6. Serbia now leads Group B with a 2-0 score.
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