Federer leads Switzerland to Hopman victory
PERTH: Switzerland won their third Hopman Cup on Saturday as Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic beat Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber 4-3(3) 4-2 in the deciding mixed doubles to secure a 2-1 victory in the final at the Perth Arena.
It was Federer’s second Hopman Cup triumph after victory in 2001 alongside then world number one Martina Hingis.
“She (Hingis) had a great career and to have that in a small country like Switzerland is very rare,” world number two Federer said after his country’s latest triumph. “It made me also believe with hard work and dedication you get really far because I didn’t believe that much at that point when I was younger, I thought it was more all talent.”
Federer had earlier roared back from a set down to beat Zverev 6-7(4), 6-0, 6-2 and give the Swiss a 1-0 lead.
Unbeaten in three singles matches in the tournament before the final as he prepares to defend his Australian Open title later this month, the 19-time grand slam champion failed to wrap up the first set.
BRILLIANT KYRGIOS IN BRISBANE FINAL
BRISBANE: Controversial Australian Nick Kyrgios produced two sets of superb tennis to see off top seed Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday and reach the final of the Brisbane International.
Kyrgios came back from losing the first set to win 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 and set up a decider against American Ryan Harrison. Harrison had earlier ended the fairytale run of 18-year-old wildcard Alex de Minaur 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in two hours and 37 minutes. Kyrgios admitted after his quarter-final win over Alexandr Dolgopolov that he sometimes turns his talent on and off “like a tap”.
MONFILS THROUGH TO QATAR OPEN FINAL
DOHA: French tennis player Gael Monfils advanced to the Qatar Open final after Australian top seed Dominic Thiem was forced to withdraw from the semi-final due to fever here. The Frenchman will play rising star Andrey Rublev in the final after the Russian outlasted the Argentine lefthander Guido Pella 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(2) in two hours and 25 minutes.
Thiem, the only seed remaining since the quarter-finals, was set to play his first hard court semi-final in more than a year.