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  • Slovakia stun USA in Hopman Cup

    1/5/09 5:03 PM | David Cox
    Slovakia stun USA in Hopman Cup It's been an enthralling day 3 at the Hopman Cup, with Slovakia upsetting the United States and Germany vs. Australia going to the wire.

    USA were seeded as the favorite to progress from Group A, but the 2007 champions now face an uphill task to reach the semifinals after losing to rank outsiders Slovakia.

    Slovakia was favored in women's singles with world No. 19 and rising star Dominique Cibulkova against veteran Megan Shaughnessy. Shaughnessy missed most of 2008 with injury and it showed as Cibulkova converted the point 6-2, 6-2.

    However, James Blake was a massive favorite against the out-of-form Domnik Hrbaty (who was beaten in an exhibition by the long retired Pete Sampras last month). Then with Shaughnessy's doubles ability, USA looked set to take the mixed doubles. Hrbaty had other ideas and put the tie beyond doubt with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 win over Blake who urgently needs to find some form.

    The match of the week so far took place between Germany and Australia, an eagerly anticipated tie by home fans as it featured the return of Lleyton Hewitt.

    They didn't have much to cheer to begin with as Germany's Sabine Lisicki staged a fightback to oust the big serving Casey Dell'Acqua 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Dell'Acqua had been 3-1 up in that final set and Lisicki looked well beaten when that lead became 5-3. However to the dismay of the Australian team, Lisicki reeled off the final 4 games to give her country the lead.

    Things didn't look good for Australia when Hewitt lost the opening set against Kiefer from 3-1 up. However he dominated from there on and generally looked in excellent shape during his 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 win.

    It came down to the mixed doubles and Kiefer's serving gave Germany the slight edge throughout and they claimed victory 6-7, 6-3, 10-5.

    However, it's not all over for Australia as going by today's evidence, the Aussies have a good chance to beat USA and Slovakia and qualify for the semis behind Germany.

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