Czech-mate, it’s Hopman Cup glory

ANDY Murray warmed up for the Australian Open with a commanding 6-1, 6-3 win over thirdseeded Alexandr Dolgopolov yesterday to claim the Brisbane International title.

The victory provided the ideal start to Murray’s partnership with new coach Ivan Lendl, and the eight-time Grand Slam winner was courtside for only the second time when the 24-year-old Scot lifted the Roy Emerson Trophy.

“I’d like to thank my team ... (Mr) Lendl, he’s up there somewhere, hiding,” Murray said. “It’s my first week with this new team and it was good. I really enjoyed it. Hopefully it’ll bring more success.”

The 24-year-old Murray’s next task is the Australian Open, where he has lost the past two finals, to be 0-3 in Major finals overall – a statistic he’s desperate to improve. That’s on top of all the pressure from home to end a drought for British men at the Grand Slam tournaments dating back to 1936.

His confidence high after capturing his 22nd ATP title, Murray will spend the next week in Melbourne preparing for the Australian Open, which starts next Monday.

He raced through the first set against Dolgopolov in 26 minutes – he didn’t lose a point on his own serve until the last game, when the U k r a i n i a n twice had breakpoint chances but was unable to convert.

The No 4-ranked Murray won nine straight games from 1-1 in the first to take the match away from Dolgopolov, who rallied briefly by winning three in a row – including his only service break to get the second set back to 4-3.

But Murray held to regain momentum and then broke Dolgopolov’s serve for the fifth time in the match to finish it off in 65 minutes.

Murray started the week slowly, dropping the opening sets of his first two matches and complaining of aches and pains, but didn’t lose a service game in the quarter-final and semi-final as he gradually got his match fitness back up to speed. And he didn’t show any sign of the groin strain which prematurely ended his 2011 season.

The 23-year-old Dolgopolov moved up to a year-end No 15 ranking in 2011 and was aiming for his second ATP title, but was never in contention in the final.

He has now lost all three matches against Murray, including the Australian Open quarter-finals last year. Dolgopolov strained his groin in his semi-final win over seconds e e d e d Gilles Simon and wasn’t at his peak a g a i n s t Murray.

“I wasn’t really fit,” he

said. PERTH: Petra Kvitova and Tomas Berdych produced some impeccable tennis to give the Czech Republic the Hopman Cup with a 2-0 win over France in the final on Saturday. Wimbledon champion Kvitova saw off Marion Bartoli 7-5, 6-1 in the opening match and then Berdych defeated Richard Gasquet 7-6, 6-4 to take an unassailable lead in the tie.

With the result decided, the mixed doubles match was not played. “It couldn’t be

better,” Berdych said. “It has been an extremely great week.

“I need to congratulate Petra, she won all she could and I tried to add some winning of my own so we could be standing here with such a nice trophy. It was the best final we could have,” he added.

The Czech pair were unbeaten in singles matches during the mixed team competition at the Burswood Dome and are in great form with Australian Open starting next Monday.

“It’s a great way to start the season,” said world No2 Kvitova who could overtake Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki at the top of the rankings if she wins the Sydney International next week.

“Tomas played unbelievably well and it has been an honour to play with him. I played my best against Marion today.”

Kvitova had trailed the gallant Bartoli 5-3 in the first set but hit a purple patch of scything first serves and booming forehands to win four straight games in front of a capacity crowd of 8 365.

The Czech swept through the second set for victory in one hour and 29 minutes.

Her teammate, Berdych, gave a supreme demonstration of power hitting and although Gasquet fought as hard as he could, the Frenchman ended up throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.

World No 7 Berdych controlled the majority of points with his customarily flat, deep groundstrokes and the second set risked being a whitewash until Gasquet recovered one of two service breaks he had conceded.

Apart from that glitch, Berdych was almost robotic in his execution in a match lasting one hour and 34 minutes.

He won the match with a cannon of a first serve down the middle. – Reuters