Great Britain’s hopes of reaching tomorrow’s final in themixed-team Hopman Cup in Perth were finally ended today, despite a resoundingvictory over the home team in their final group game. In the end the resultproved immaterial to their chances of qualifying, as group leaders Poland gotthe one rubber they needed against France to ensure it is they who will meetthe United States in the final.
Andy Murray and Heather Watson knew that qualificationwas not in their own hands and their minimum requirement was to ensure thatthey overcame Australia in the last round robin match of the group stages, togive them any hope of reaching the final. They achieved their side of the‘bargain’ with a 3-0 win, taking all three rubbers.
Murray wasted little time in overcoming Marinko Matosevic6-3 6-2 to maintain his 100% singles’ record in the competition this year,which will have pleased him as his Australian Open preparations remain firmlyon schedule after victory in Abu Dhabi last week.
Watson will have been delighted to finally take asingles’ match in the event, after two previous resounding defeats to the ladiesfrom Poland and France, especially as her Australian opposition was higherranked in the world than her currently.
She proved too strong for CaseyDellacqua with a straight sets win 6-3 6-4, with the two singles’ victories betweenMurray and Watson ensuring that they would at least enjoy a winning end totheir Hopman Cup week, no matter how the final rubber, the mixed-doubles turnedout.
As it was, the pair also triumphed in the doubles with arelatively comfortable 7-5 6-1 scoreline. It wasn’t enough ultimately, but theywill have enjoyed their time in their Australian surroundings over the week,with two wins and only one defeat a satisfactory return given the teams theywere facing.
Poland confirmed their place in the final for the secondyear in a row thanks to Jerzy Janowicz’s singles’ triumph over France’s BenoitPaire.
Alize Cornet had threatened to derail the Pole’s qualification byovercoming Agnieszka Radwanska in three sets in the women’s singles rubber, butas they only needed one rubber to progress that was sealed by Janowicz’sstraight sets result.