Germany, Belgium cruise past Canada and Australia
perth — A buoyant Angelique Kerber beat a battling Eugenie Bouchard to lead Germany to a 3-0 win over Canada at the mixed-teams Hopman Cup on Wednesday.
Elise Mertens fended off Daria Gavrilova while David Goffin blitzed his way past Thanasi Kokkinakis as Belgium secured a 3-0 victory over Australia in the Hopman Cup on Wednesday.
Former world number one Kerber notched her second straightsets win in Perth to start the new year, while Bouchard — once ranked fifth but now 83rd — was testy after yet another comprehensive defeat.
Kerber’s win gave the Germans a perfect start to the Group A tie. Young gun Alexander Zverev then ensured they remained unbeaten after two outings with an emphatic win over Vasek Pospisil.
In the dead mixed doubles, the Germans completed a clean sweep with a straight-sets win.
If the Germans beat Australia on Friday they will be guaranteed a berth in Saturday’s final.
As was the case in her 6-1, 6-4 loss to Australian Daria Gavrilova on Monday, Bouchard barely fired a shot against Kerber in the first set but resurrected her game in the second.
At 3-3 in the second set Bouchard held four break points. But Kerber staved them off, held serve and then strolled through the last two games comfortably to win 6-1, 6-3 in 57 minutes.
The contrasting moods of Kerber and Bouchard told the story, with the former rapidly regaining confidence in her own game after a frustrating 2017 in which she slipped from number one in the rankings to 21st.
With emphatic wins over Belgium’s Elise Mertens and Bouchard, who has troubled Kerber in previous meetings, the German was thrilled with her early-season form before the Australian Open, which provided her maiden Grand Slam in 2016.
“It is not so easy to play against Eugenie but today it was a good match.” —