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.”
After letting another big lead slip with an error-strewn performance at the French Open on Wednesday, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka felt like getting as far away from the courts as possible. “Just want to quit tennis right now,” Sabalenka said after wasting a lead of a set and two breaks in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss to Diana Shnaider in the women’s singles quarter-finals. “We’ll see in few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally.” Sabalenka’s wait for a first French Open title continues despite the four-time major winner leading 4-1 in the second set and being two points from victory while
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