TENNIS/Hopman Cup:Sania Mirza inspired India to a 2-1 victory over Australia at the Hopman Cup in Perth yesterday, keeping alive her nation's hopes of reaching the final while denting those of the hosts.
Mirza set the ball rolling with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win over Alicia Molik and though Peter Luczak beat Rohan Bopanna 7-6, 6-3 to level the match, the Indians joined forces to win the mixed doubles 6-2, 4-6, 13-11, in the match tiebreak.
The United States head Group B with two wins out of two but both India and Australia can still qualify for Friday's final.
"I think we played really well, especially Rohan in the first set and a half, he was all over the place. I think they were a bit surprised by him," said Mirza.
India must beat the Czech Republic and Australia need to defeat the US, results which would leave all three teams on two wins out of three, with the group winner then decided on rubbers won.
World number 31 Mirza came out firing on all cylinders, smashing winners on both sides to take the opening set in 30 minutes. Molik picked up her game, especially her serve, in the second set and as Mirza's concentration dipped, the Australian levelled the match.
Mirza then stormed to a 5-1 lead in the decider, only to falter as Molik saved three match points in the seventh game before hitting back to 5-4. But the Indian held her nerve to serve out at the second time of asking for victory.
"I was 5-1 and then she started playing really well," said Mirza. "But on her serve, she can come up with big serves any time. She stopped missing the ball and I made some stupid mistakes."
World number 79 Luczak snatched a tight opening set against Bopanna, winning the tiebreak 7-2. Bopanna (ranked 267) was then broken in the sixth game of the second set as Luczak levelled the contest at 1-1.
The momentum was with Australia but India looked on course for a straighforward mixed doubles win when they led 6-2, 4-2.
Australia hit back superbly to take the second set, though, and both sides had match points in the deciding match tiebreak only for India to snatch it 13-11.
The win also helped Mirza and Bopanna maintain their unbeaten mixed record in Hopman Cup with their fifth win out of five.
"One of Sania's last returns summed up the whole day," Molik said. "She played fantastically well in her singles, it just goes to show what a quality player she is and Rohan certainly surprised me at the net, he was so quick today. We really didn't have too many chances."
Top seeds Serbia and fourth seeds France clash in Group A today, with the winners almost certain to reach Friday's final.
Meanwhile second seed Tommy Robredo got his 2008 campaign off to a forgettable start when he was beaten in straight sets by Agustin Calleri in the Qatar Open in Doha yesterday.
The Spanish world number 10 never recovered after losing his first service game and went on to a 6-4, 6-4 defeat against the unseeded Argentine.
Russian top seed Nikolay Davydenko and third seed Andy Murray of Britain cruised into the second round with resounding wins over Benedikt Dorsch of Germany and Olivier Rochus of Belgium.
Davydenko posted a 6-3, 6-0 win in one hour 14 minutes to set up a second-round clash against French veteran Fabrice Santoro while Murray took four minutes longer to sail past Rochus 6-0, 6-2. Murray will take on wildcard and former champion Rainer Schuettler of Germany, who beat Romania's Andrei Pavel 1-6, 6-2 6-0.
In other matches, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia beat Santiago Ventura of Spain 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka beat another Spaniard, qualifier Alberto Martin, 6-2 6-2.
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