Nick Kyrgios broke Alexander Zverev’s service at 3-3 in the deciding set for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win yesterday, giving his Australia Green team the winning edge over Germany at the Hopman Cup.
Earlier, Russian-born Daria Gavrilova beat Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 6-2 to give Australia Green the early lead in the mixed teams tournament, part of the Australian Open Series ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year, which begins on Jan. 18 at Melbourne Park.
Kyrgios and Gavrilova later combined for a 6-3, 4-6, 10-7 (match tiebreak) win in mixed doubles to complete a 3-0 win.
Photo: AFP
The 18-year-old Zverev, at 83rd, is the youngest player in the ATP rankings top 100.
“I really like the kid,” the 20-year-old Kyrgios said. “He has got a great future ahead and he is a great athlete for his size, and moves well and serves big.”
For the first time in the Hopman Cup’s 28-year history, Australia is being represented by two teams. Lleyton Hewitt and Jarmila Wolfe-Gajdosova of Australia Gold were to play Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova and Jiri Vesely later yesterday.
Hewitt, who is to retire after the Australian Open, has already been named captain of Australia’s David Cup team.
At the Brisbane International, former Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova overcame Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer, recovering from 4-3 and 0-40 down on her serve in the third set to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Cibulkova missed four months of competition last year to undergo Achilles tendon surgery.
The Slovakian is to next face the winner of the first-round match between former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and eighth-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy, who upset Serena Williams in the US Open semi-finals last year, ending Williams’s attempt at a calendar-year Grand Slam.
In other first-round matches yesterday, Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky became the first seeded player eliminated when she was beaten by Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a 2013 finalist in Brisbane, 6-2, 6-1.
American Varvara Lepchenko defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-1 to set up a meeting with last year’s Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza, who is seeded second.
In an all-French matchup, Alize Cornet beat Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-4.
Top-seeded Roger Federer and second-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan have first-round byes in the men’s draw at Brisbane.
Federer might not play until Wednesday, and when he does, he is to have former No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic as his coach for the first time. The 17-time Grand Slam champion hired the Croatian to work alongside head coach Severin Luthi this year after Stefan Edberg opted not to continue with a third year in Federer’s camp.
“What I like about him, he is very direct — he lets you know what he sees and thinks,” Federer said. “We train very well together. He has got good insight. He has played against a bunch of players that I have played against. We played against each other over 15 times as well, so he knows my game very well.”
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS