Past Results - Hopman Cup VII (31st Dec 1994 - 7th Jan 1995)
Victory as the No. 1 seeds 12 months earlier went a long way to
guaranteeing Petr Korda and Jana Novotna the top ranking again for
Hopman Cup VII even with the great German champion Boris Becker in
the line-up of rivals.
The Czech Republic had an imposing group of rivals as they set out
to defend their crown, with Becker and his ever-smiling young partner
Anke Huber ranked second, ahead of a field that boasted plenty of
No. 1s from various countries — and two great old-time favourites.
Australia's last Wimbledon champion in Pat Cash was back again and
in the Swedish colours was comeback man and three-times Australian
Open champion Mats Wilander.
But there was one star missing big-serving Goran Ivanisevic was
ranked No. 2 in the world, but a series of fines had culminated in
an ATP suspension that ruled him out of the Hopman Cup. He still
came to Perth, won the golf day and took part in a tennis exhibition
only to add further drama to the occasion by injuring a knee.
The New Year also introduced a new team to Hopman Cup action in
Argentina, with Innes Gorrochategui and Javier Frana flying their
country's colours for the first time.
They were first-up on centre court but, unfortunately, were first
out also, losing both singles to Austria's Judith Wiesner and Horst
Skoff in tough singles.
The Aussies were next and, much to the delight of a full house,
downed the South African duo of Amanda Coetzer and Christo van Rensburg
2-1, relying on a tense mixed doubles, seven points to two in the
first tie-breaker and 11/9 in the second after Kristine Radford had
gone down to her tough little rival in the opening rubber, but Cash
was classy in his 7-5, 6-2 win.
There was plenty of crowd support for the Ukraine-Sweden clash -
and they got more than their share of drama and excitement.
The popular brother-sister combo of Natalia Medvedeva and Andrei
Medvedev downed Sweden 2-1, but only after two long and tense singles
matches. Natalia beat off stomach cramps before downing Asa Carlsson
in three sets and 2-1/2 hours, losing the first in a tie-breaker.
Andrei lost to one of his boy-hood idols in Wilander, who came from
a set and a break down to beat the youngster 10 years his junior.
The family team proved too strong, two and two, in the deciding mixed.
Schultz gave the Netherlands an early lead against sixth-seeded
France, beating Julie Halard, but Jean-Philippe Fleurian downed Tom
Nijssen in three tight sets and the French pair won the mixed to
survive. The scoreboard didn't do justice to the closeness of the
match; going down in a third-set tie-breaker (7/4) to decide the
winners.
The defending champs were too strong for Australia, with Novotna
winning the women's singles before Cash stirred the Aussie fans into
a frenzy with some vintage tennis to snatch the first set off Korda,
only to lose the decider 7/3 in a tie-breaker. The Aussies won the
mixed 6-3, 6-4 in a crowd-entertainer.
The Medvedevs were cheered on once again, this time ousting the
fourth-seeded Americans, with the big-serving Lindsay Davenport making
a losing debut against Natalia and the veteran Richey Reneberg fighting
out a great three-setter, two of them tie-breakers, before going
down 6-3 in the third to Andrei.
Germany wasted little time in by-passing Austria on their way to
the semis, with Huber dropping three games to Wiesner and Becker
awesome in giving Skoff just seven games. The Germans lost a three-set
mixed doubles, but that only helped get them into better match form
and put Becker on the front pages of newspapers around the world.
He dropped his normally-taciturn approach to tennis and hammed it
up with a series of humorous incidents, such as pretending to be
a ball boy; handing his racquet to a ball boy to have a hit and climbing
the backboards to receive service. It was a different Becker unveiled
to the world and the fans loved it, especially wife Barbara and new
son Noah.
France cruised to a clean sweep over Spain, with Halard beating
Conchita Martinez 7-6, 7-5 and Fleurian having a hard first set before
downing newcomer Alberto Costa 7-5, 6-1.
So the semi-finals had crowd favourites all around and when the
Medvedevs really showed their potential with incredibly tense three-set
wins over Novotna and Korda, the crowd were in raptures. Natalia
won her singles 6-1, 6-7 (3/7) 6-3, claiming the last five games
and Andrei followed up with two tie-breakers, 7/3 in the first and
7/5 in the second to seal their place in the final.
Germany advanced to be their opponents with a straight rubbers victory
over France even though Becker needed two comfortable tie-breakers
to quell the spirit of Fleurian after Huber had dropped just three
games to Halard.
Two of the world's rising young stars faced each other in the final,
and when Huber and Medvedeva split the first two sets it was a final
heading for the wire. But the young German showed why she had risen
to the top 10 when she triumphed 6-4 in the third and then it was
up to Becker.
Andrei wasn't giving in easily and when he grabbed the second set
7/3 in a tie-breaker, the Wimbledon champ had to lift a notch. He
was in awesome serving form, producing 16 aces, including five straight
at one stage to recover from 0-40. He gradually got on top to clinch
the Cup, the Argyle diamonds and $200,000 in prizemoney.
The victory gave Germany their second Hopman Cup and while that
awesome duo of Boris Becker and Steffi Graf couldn't win it together
in HCIV, they now had one Cup each, with Graf partnering Michael
Stich in HCV and Becker sharing the glory with Huber in HCVII.
Results
Hopman Cup VII (31 December 1994 - 7 January 1995)
Seeds:
1. Czech Republic: Petr Korda/Jana Novotna
2. Germany: Boris Becker/Anke Huber
3. Spain: Albert Costa/Conchita Martinez
4. USA: Richey Reneberg/Lindsay Davenport
5. Ukraine: Andrei Medvedev/Natalia Medvedeva
6. France: Jean-Philippe Fleurian/Julie Halard
7. South Africa: Christo van Rensburg/Amanda Coetzer
8. Austria: Horst Skoff/Judith Wiesner
Unseeded:
Argentina: Javier Frana/Ines Gorrochategui
Australia: Pat Cash/Kristine Radford
Netherlands: Tom Nijssen/Brenda Schultz
Sweden: Mats Wilander/Asa Carlsson
Final:
Germany d. Ukraine 3-0:
Anke Huber defeated Natalia Medvedeva 6-4 3-6 6-4;
Boris Becker defeated Andrei Medvedev 6-3 6-7 6-3;
Becker/Huber defeated Medvedev/Medvedeva - w/o.
(* Dead Rubbers - Pro Set)
Semi Finals:
Ukraine d. Czech Republic 2-1:
Natalia Medvedeva defeated Jana Novotna 6-1 6-7 6-3;
Andrei Medvedev defeated Petr Korda 7-6 7-6;
Korda/Novotna defeated Medvedev/Medvedeva 8-3*.
Germany d. France 2-1:
Anke Huber defeated Julie Halard 6-2 6-1;
Boris Becker defeated Jean-Philippe Fleurian 7-6 7-6;
Fleurian/Halard defeated Becker/Huber 8-5*.
Quarter Finals:
Czech Republic d. Australia 2-1:
Jana Novotna defeated Kristine Radford 6-3 6-3;
Petr Korda defeated Pat Cash 2-6 6-3
Ukraine d. USA 2-1:
Natalia Medvedeva defeated Lindsay Davenport 6-0 6-4;
Andrei Medvedev defeated Richey Reneberg 6-7 7-6 6-3;
Reneberg/Davenport defeated Medvedev/Medvedeva 6-3 6-2.
Germany d. Austria 2-1:
Anke Huber defeated Judith Wiesner 6-1 6-2;
Boris Becker defeated Horst Skoff 6-3 6-4;
Skoff/Wiesner defeated Becker/Huber 5-7 6-4 7-5.
France d. Spain 3-0:
Julie Halard defeated Conchita Martinez 7-6 7-5;
Jean-Philippe Fleurian defeated Albert Costa 7-5 6-1;
Fleurian/Halard defeated Costa/Martinez 6-0 6-0.
First Round:
Czech Republic - Bye
Germany - Bye
Spain - Bye
USA - Bye
Austria d. Argentina 2-1:
Judith Wiesner defeated Ines Gorrochategui 6-1 7-5;
Horst Skoff defeated Javier Frana 6-1 6-4;
Frana/Gorrochategui defeated Skoff/Wiesner 6-4 7-5.
Australia d. South Africa 2-1:
Amanda Coetzer defeated Kristine Radford 6-1 6-1;
Pat Cash defeated Christo van Rensburg 7-5 6-2;
Cash/Radford defeated van Rensburg/Coetzer 7-6 7-6.
Ukraine d. Sweden 2-1:
Natalia Medvedeva defeated Asa Carlsson 6-7 6-4 7-5;
Mats Wilander defeated Andrei Medvedev 2-6 6-4 6-3;
Medvedev/Medvedeva defeated Wilander/Carlsson 6-2 6-2.
France d. Netherlands 2-1:
Brenda Schultz defeated Julie Halard 6-0 6-3;
Jean-Philippe Fleurian defeated Tom Nijssen 7-6 3-6 6-3;
Fleurian/Halard defeated Nijssen/Schultz 3-6 6-2 7-6.
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