2011 Hopman Cup: Review Session 9 – Belgium vs. Serbia
The 2011 Hopman Cup (HC) saw its first finalist today as Serbia led the round robin stage despite her 2-1 loss to Belgium. Representing their respective countries, tennis players, in teams of two, are currently participating in
the event in Perth.
Having played their opening clashes last weekend, five days later the teams are down to their final ties of the round robin stage. Each tie consists of one men’s singles, one women’s singles and one mixed doubles match.
Belgium kicked off the event last Saturday as she played Australia in session 1. Although Justine Henin won her match in straight sets against Alicia Molik, Belgium lost the tie owing to Ruben Bemelmans’ defeat to Lleyton Hewitt.
Moreover, the Belgians also lost the mixed doubles match. Standing at a 0-1 mark in the event, Belgium played her second tie against Kazakhstan on Tuesday. The Belgians enjoyed a perfect 3-0 victory over the Kazakhs; starting with Henin’s win over Sesil Karatantcheva,
followed by Bemelmans’ win against Andrey Golubev and finishing off with a mixed doubles win over the Kazakhs in the tiebreaker.
On the other hand, Serbia enjoyed pole position in the group with perfect victories in both their ties. The Serbs led the group with a match win-loss score of 6-0 while the Belgians held the second spot with a 4-2 mark. With a
position in the final still up for grabs, Serbia needed to win only one match in today’s session to make it through to the finals.
Kicking off the 9th session at the event was Henin as she played Ana Ivanovic. With both players being in the Top 20, the match was expected to be a thrilling one, but given Henin’s 5-0 lead in the head-to-head it also
became a predictable one. The 2010 Roland Garros winner defeated the Serb in only 77 minutes enjoying a straight set victory of 6-4, 6-3. Henin’s victory over Ivanovic kept alive Belgium’s hopes of making it to the finals.
However, it seems these hopes would be short-lived. Taking to the courts next was Bemelmans as he took on the world number 3 Novak Djokovic. Opening serve in the first set, Djokovic rushed to a 5-1 lead before clinching a 6-3 victory.
Entering into the second set, Djokovic once again led the score taking a 4-0 lead. Losing two of the next four games, Djokovic wrapped up the second set, with a 6-2 victory.
Doing away the Belgian in straight sets, Djokovic ensured Serbia’s appearance at the final. This would be Serbia’s second appearance at the HC final, since the team of Jelena Jankovic and Djokovic managed the same in 2008, though
they lost to eventual champions United States.
Delighted over making it to the final, Djokovic told the press, ''The last couple of months I’ve been playing maybe my best tennis and definitely a title in the Davis Cup gave me a lot of confidence and a very short off season
as well, but that’s the way it is I have to adjust. I’m still working hard off the court trying to work physically well and I’m really, really satisfied with the way I’ve been playing first couple of matches here. Everything seems to be working. I’m hitting
the ball really well; I like the surface and the atmosphere. It’s unusual seeing in the opening weeks of the season so many people watching your matches. In the opening match I felt a bit nervous, but I got used to it and it’s great, so we’re really looking
forward to the Final and hopefully another win. Usually the diamonds are for a woman so I mean Ana will definitely give her best and I will try to help her out and win it this time. Three years ago I played finals here with Jankovic and we were just close
of making the title, but this time we are really eager to win and get those (diamond) balls.''
Although Djokovic won his match, the Serbs lost the mixed doubles 10-4 in the match tiebreak. Subsequently, Belgians won the tie 2-1 though they could not deny the Serbs the single match win, in turn losing their hopes of a final
appearance.
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