Australia Fall Short of Final Berth
7/01/2010
By Nikki Brown
AUSTRALIA’s Hyundai Hopman Cup is over after Spain beat them in Thursday’s Tie 3-0. Australia needed to beat Spain without dropping a set, but it was not to be.
It was all over for Australia after Sam Stosur lost the first set of the singles match with Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. From there the Australian could not recover, winning only one game in the second set.
Stosur did feel the pressure heading into the match and was disappointed she could not get the win.
Stosur is not too concerned about her form heading into the Australian Open though. She still has three weeks to prepare and will be over in Sydney competing before heading to the Grand Slam.
“I still (have) got to look at the big picture. It’s the first week of the year and the idea of Hopman Cup is to get matches and that’s what I’ve been able to do.
“I will try to look at a few things that happened here and rectify those for Sydney and then obviously by the time I get to Melbourne I want to be playing the best I can. It would have been nicer to have a few more wins here.”
Her partner Lleyton Hewitt also struggled in his singles match against Tommy Robredo, losing in straight sets.
He suffered a back spasm early in the first set that led to him serving four double faults and falling 0-4 down and took injury time at the set break, but he is adamant there is nothing seriously wrong.
There were suggestions the Australian would not play in the mixed doubles as a precaution, but he came out and played a strong three sets.
Hewitt praised Robredo’s efforts and acknowledged he was not moving on the court well in the opening set.
Hewitt will also head to Sydney before the Grand Slam and believes the Hopman Cup has given him the match practice he desperately needed.
“The main reason we come is to get matches under our belt,” the 28-year- old said.
“I’ve been playing so long now that the Grand Slams are the priorities and I want to be playing my best tennis in Melbourne. One of the biggest reasons I came is because I’m guaranteed the three matches and I’ve got those.
“You can’t buy that kind of practice where you actually go out there and you’re break points down in a competitive sense with good crowd atmosphere.”
Back to current news.