Spain Wins Third Cup Over Great Britain
9/01/2010
By Chris Pike
SPAIN’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Tommy Robredo rebounded from a shock women’s singles loss against Great Britain to win the men’s and mixed doubles rubbers to win the Final of Hyundai Hopman Cup XXII 2-1.
Great Britain’s 15-year-old star in the making Laura Robson gave her country the perfect start in their first Cup Final by shocking world No. 26 Martinez Sanchez 6-1, 7-6 (6) to win her first singles match of the week.
That set things up beautifully for her world No. 4 partner Andy Murray to continue his form from the week that saw him not drop a set. He looked likely to do that by winning the first set over Tommy Robredo 6-1, but the Spaniard world No. 16 bounced back winning the next two 6-4, 6-3 to force a deciding mixed doubles.
The first set went right down to the tie-break and Britain earned three match points at 6-3, but couldn’t capitalise and Spain did on their first opportunity. The second again appeared to be heading to a tie-break until Martinez Sanchez and Robredo broke Robson’s serve on the last game to win the set 7-5 and the championship.
The win is Spain’s third in the 22-year history of the Hopman Cup after Arantxa Sanchez Vicario won with brother Emilio Sanchez in 1990 and then Robredo in 2002.
Spain is now equal with the Slovak Republic as the second most successful Cup nation, behind the USA who has won it on five occasions.
Robson had competed well all week, especially in the first sets, against Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova, Germany’s Sabine Lisicki and even Russia’s Elena Dementieva, but it all clicked for the 15-year-old in the Final against Martinez Sanchez.
The Spaniard world No. 26 had not dropped a set in her singles matches all week in Group A, but the pressure of the Final and the confidence oozing from Robson proved too much for her in the first set.
Robson took that out by playing an incredibly cool set defying her age and the pressure of the Final by winning it 6-1. The second set was a closer affair and remained on serve until Martinez Sanchez broke Robson to go to a 5-3 lead.
The young Brit was able to break straight back and it eventually went to the tie-break. Martinez Sanchez went up 2-0, but Robson hit back to lead 6-2 and have four match points. She lost them all, but gained control again with a superb forehand winner and then closed out the biggest win of her short career.
Highlighting the way she handled the pressure better is that the young Brit hit 28 winners while Martinez Sanchez had 36 unforced errors, 18 on each side.
The 15-year-old played the best match of her career to date and couldn’t have been happier with it.
“I was pretty nervous in the end but I just tried to keep going for my shots. It was pretty convenient that the only match I won was in the Final so I’m happy,” Robson said.
“I’m really happy and I thought I played well, especially in the first set – I completely dominated. I’m just really happy at the moment.”
Murray blitzed the first set to continue the form he has shown all week. He repeated Robson’s 6-1 win in her opening set to leave Robredo bewildered.
Robredo was able to hold on in his five service games in the second set, including the last one to love and then put real pressure on Murray’s serve for the first time all week. Robredo was able to get the break to take the set 6-4.
The Spaniard then raced to a 3-0 and 4-1 lead to start the third set and he had no trouble closing the match out by winning the set 6-3.
“I thought that the people deserved to watch the mixed doubles for the Final so I tried my best. I was just watching the diamond ball and pushing hard because I really would love to have one more,” Robredo said.
“I won the second set and then on the serve I played great and I am so happy because I’m against one of the great players of the world right now. Beating him at the beginning of the year is going to give me a lot of confidence.
“It was very important win because if Maria at the beginning of the day will win, it would be very important but not that much. But Maria, she couldn’t win today, so then if I didn’t win we have to go home – so it’s more important.”
It was a tight and tense first set in the mixed doubles that went all the way to the tie-break. Britain earned an early 6-3 advantage, but Spain took it out 8-6 in the end to go one step closer to the win. The second set saw the tension rise another notch again.
Things stayed on serve right the way through, but with Spain up 5-4 they had two match points on Murray’s serve. Britain served, but then after Spain held again the pressure was on Robson to send the set to the tie-break and avoid the defeat.
Spain was able to earn a third championship point on her serve and capitalised when Robredo scorched a backhand winner down the line for the victory.
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