France are to play in their third Hopman Cup final after Alize Cornet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat defending champions Spain 3-0 at the mixed teams tournament yesterday.
The French are to face the top-seeded Polish pairing of Agnieszka Radwanska and Grzegorz Panfil in today’s final.
Poland edged past Australia on Thursday morning.
France previously reached the title decider in Perth in 1998 and 2012.
Two years ago, the team of Richard Gasquet and Marion Bartoli lost the final to the Czech Republic pairing of Tomas Berdych and Petra Kvitova.
In 1998, Mary Pierce and Cedric Pioline were beaten by the Slovak Republic’s Karina Habsudova and Karol Kucera.
Having won their first two group ties, the French simply needed to beat Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues and Daniel Munoz-De la Nava to qualify for the final.
Cornet, who lost her previous two singles matches this week, put them in front with an easy win over Medina Garrigues, 6-2, 6-2, despite being troubled by hamstring soreness during the second set.
Cornet said the problem was nothing more than early season tightness and, after Tsonga sealed the win for the French with a three-set win over Munoz-De la Nava, she took her place in the dead mixed doubles rubber.
The 23-year-old Cornet, who has lost both her matches on the WTA tour against Radwanska, was thrilled to have the chance to win France’s first Hopman Cup title.
While other players have commented they are viewing the unique tournament as little more than Australian Open preparation, Cornet said she was in Perth to win.
“It’s good preparation for Sydney and the Australian Open, but I think my first goal is of course to win,” she said.
“I’m not here to just make preparation to matches, and I was very disappointed when I lost to [Sloane] Stephens and Kvitova because I don’t want to be the one that loses the team,” Cornet added. “I just want to go until the end and bring back the trophy to France for the first time. It means a lot to me.”
Their opponents in the final, Poland, are making their first appearance at the Hopman Cup.
Tsonga stretched his unbeaten streak in singles in Perth to six matches when he overcame a hiccup in the second set to beat the 194th-ranked De la Nava, who was a late replacement for Tommy Robredo in the tournament.
The Frenchman won 6-4, 6-7 (7/9), 6-2, after the Spaniard saved three match points in the second set and then leveled the match.
The world No. 10 was blunt about his form lapse.
“The only word I know is ... pissed off,” Tsonga said. “I expect to be one of the best players in the world ... I lost my concentration and it was no good. When I lost the second set I came back with another mentality and it was a lot better.”
The French won the mixed doubles in a pro set, 8-3.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS