Session 10 Preview - Wide Open Race for Group B Final Spot
7/01/2010
By Nikki Brown
GREAT Britain, Russia and Kazakhstan are all a chance of earning the right to play Spain in the Hyundai Hopman Cup XXII Final coming into Session 10’s double-header.
On Centre Court, Great Britain’s Laura Robson and Andy Murray can book their place with a win over Russia’s Elena Dementieva and Igor Andreev.
However, a Russian win would send the cat amongst the pigeons leaving the Russians and Brits to battle out via calculations, and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova and Andrey Golubev could join them in the mix with a win over the out of contention German team of Sabine Lisicki and Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Following Wednesday night’s game it would appear that Great Britain will beat Russia. On Wednesday night Russia lost to Asian Hopman Cup winners Kazakhstan 1-2 in the Tie, but with a team of world No. 5 Elena Dementieva and No. 35 Igor Andreev, the second-seed Russians will be keen to keep alive its Final hopes.
Great Britain has yet to lose a Tie with Murray winning all his singles and then the mixed doubles with youngster Laura Robson. The two will be playing on Centre Court while Germany and Kazakhstan will be on Court 1.
Robson is looking forward to her match against Russian sensation Dementieva and the 15-year-old is confident she can play better tennis this year.
“Well I can still improve on everything. The match was a lot better than on Monday,” Robson said.
“It’s just going to be a really good experience (playing Dementieva) because she’s something like four or five in the world, so I’ve got nothing to lose really. I usually play better against better people.”
Murray hasn’t played Andreev before but should be quietly confident of a win considering he is yet to drop a set in two dominant wins.
“I’ve never played him (Andreev) before,” Murray said.
“I’ve practiced with him the first day we both got here. He plays a lot of topspin, he’s got a big serve and he’s a big strong guy so you don’t want to get into too many long rallies with him.”
Germany cannot go through to the Final but that will not stop them from trying to win and upset Kazakhstan’s hopes of a shock Final appearance. Kazakhstan needs to win to stay in touch for the Final and also need Great Britain to lose to Russia to get there.
Kazak Andrey Golubev played an exceptional match against Andreev and if he plays with the same aggression and accuracy he should be able to overcome Kohlschreiber.
Golubev was the underdog in Wednesday night’s game and proved ominous as the Kazak took the challenge and had nothing to lose. Golubev favours the forehand in his shots and enjoyed the fact he could play his own game.
“It was my first time (playing Andreev). I know he has a big serve and big forehand so I tried to put the pressure on his backhand to play many forehands.” Golubev said.
“You can see I only play forehand so if I have a chance to play my forehand especially when I have my foot on the court I can put more pressure and to be aggressive on the court.”
The first hurdle is for Shvedova to win her singles match. Shvedova beat Robson in her opening singles game and then lost to Dementieva in straight sets on Wednesday night as she continues her recovery from illness.
On Wednesday night’s game Shvedova struggled out on court and put it down to a lack of recovery time.
“I’m still playing and everyday practicing and playing so recovery is taking longer because in all the matches I am giving all I have and I don’t have enough time to recover,” Shvedova said.
Shvedova and Golubev adjusted their game plan in the mixed doubles as they prefer to play the two players at the baseline rather than a player up at the net.
In the first few matches the Kazakhstan team were getting a beating from Dementieva’s drop shots. Once they moved into the net Kazakhstan began to dominate and take control of the match.
Lisicki won’t fold easily, though, and has started her year brilliantly beating Dementieva and Robson in her two matches on her second trip to Perth.
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