Great Britain Down Germany 2-1
6/01/2010
By Chris Pike
GREAT Britain has downed Germany 2-1 to move one step closer to a Hyundai Hopman Cup Final berth inside the Burswood Dome.
German Sabine Lisicki beat Laura Robson 7-6, 6-3 to give Germany the ideal start, but then Andy Murray blitzed Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-1 in 56 minutes to force a deciding mixed doubles.
Robson and Murray starred in that, leading Britain to a 6-3, 6-2 win to remain on track for a Final spot with a win over Russia on Friday.
The German world No. 22 is a star on the rise in the women’s game and showed why by beating Elena Dementieva on Monday, but the 15-year-old Robson took it right up to her in the opening set.
The games remained right on serve through the first eight games until the young Brit stunned Lisicki to take a 5-4 lead to serve for the opening set. Lisicki broke right back, though, but Robson was still able to hold serve to send it to a tie-break.
The score was 5-5 when Robson challenged a line-call but wasn’t on song and then Lisicki capitalised to take the first set.
Lisicki asserted her dominance early in the second set to go up to a 4-1 lead, but Robson still showed her fighting spirit to win two straight games. The German still did enough, though, and won the last two to win the set 6-3.
Lisicki has now beaten both Dementieva and Robson to begin her week in Perth and is happy with how her game has come up to start 2010, but she did have a lapse in the first set against Robson.
“It’s different to play against a lefty. I haven’t played one in a while. After the first set I got used to it pretty well and I got into my game pretty good,” Lisicki said.
“I made too many easy mistakes and that’s why I got broken. I kept fighting and I knew that I could come back and I came back pretty strong. It’s still the beginning of the year and just the second match. I’m looking forward to the next matches.”
The men’s singles was the first time Murray and Kohlschreiber have played one another, and the British world No. 4 was quick to leave his imprint on the German.
Murray raced to a 4-1 lead in the first, but Kohlschreiber is a fine player himself ranked 27 in the world and hit back to even the set at 4-4. Murray proved too strong, though, breaking Kolschreiber’s serve and then holding his own to win it 6-4.
He then dominated the second set to win it 6-1 in just 17 minutes to show that he is more than ready for a massive assault on winning his first Grand Slam at the Australian Open later this month.
Murray was delighted with his serve and overall game in his second straight comfortable win in Perth. He is also enjoying the atmosphere inside the Burswood Dome.
“I served really well, didn’t give him too many chances on my serve and that was the main difference. He didn’t make too many serves and I was able to capitalise when it was on his second,” Murray said.
“I played pretty well up at the net and that’s something I have worked on a lot. There are a lot of British and Scottish flags out there so I’ve got good support. Laura has about 90 people here with her, so hopefully we can win for them.”
Robson and Murray enjoyed their experience of playing mixed doubles in their first Tie on Monday night, and came out on fire against the Germans to race to a 5-0 lead. Lisicki and Kohlschreiber fought back with three straight games, but the Brits still took the set 6-3.
The Germans got an early break in the second set to go up 2-0, but the Brits quickly won the next six games to win 6-2 with both Robson and Murray on fire.
Group B action will continue this evening with Russia’s Elena Dementieva and Igor Andreev taking on Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova and Andrey Golubev.
Tomorrow Spain plays Australia to determine the Group A Finalist, with Samantha Stosur and Lleyton Hewitt needing to beat Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Tommy Robredo is straight sets in all three rubbers to advance.
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