The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Russia bags Hopman Cup

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Saturday, Jan 06, 2007
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Russia bags Hopman Cup

RUSSIA REIGNS: Russia's Nadia Petrova defeated Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues in the final on Friday. — Photo: AP

PERTH: Russia raced to its first Hopman Cup title after singles wins for Nadia Petrova and Dmitry Tursunov gave them an unassailable 2-0 lead over Spain in the final on Friday.

World No. 6 Petrova gave the top seeds the momentum with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Anabel Medina Garrigues before Tursunov sealed the tie with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over World No. 7 Tommy Robredo.

Since losing their opening pool match against Australia, the Russians have improved as the tournament progressed, beating France in their final group tie by the required 3-0 margin to ensure they qualified for a debut appearance in the final.

Petrova, showing no signs of the side strain injury which troubled her earlier in the week, rattled off the first set against Medina Garrigues in 30 minutes helped by some pinpoint groundstrokes.

A roar from the crowd boosted Medina Garrigues as she opened her account in the second set but the Russian broke again to take a 4-2 lead.

The Spaniard managed to level at 4-4, but Petrova secured two match points on her opponent's serve while leading 5-4 and sealed the win in an hour and four minutes at the second attempt when Medina Garrigues's lame forehand drifted wide.

Tursunov, ranked 22 in the world, always looked the sharper against Robredo, who appeared jaded after Spain's final pool match ended in the early hours of Friday morning.

The Russian claimed the opener in 38 minutes with ferocious power hitting from the baseline but Robredo hit back to serve for the second set at 5-4.

Tursunov stepped up his game again to level it and clinched victory with another break in the 12th game, sealed with a crunching forehand service return winner only called in after a referral to Hawk-Eye.

The champions received $200,000 and the traditional pair of diamond-studded tennis balls, which were studded with 174 white pink-and- champagne precious stones. ``I can't believe we're holding those beautiful balls,'' said a delighted Petrova.

``When we started here, I certainly didn't think it would end up this way. This victory is really great.''

``Bad luck for Team Spain,'' said Tursunov. ``But we both played really well.

Nadia came out firing on all cylinders.

It's nice to win this for the first time for our country,'' said the member of this season's Davis Cup championship team.

Petrova, who won five of her six career titles in a torrid 2006 season, ignored any physical discomfort to earn the first point for her team at the expense of Medina Garrigues.

``She stays so far inside the baseline that it was sometime tough to do anything,'' said the winner.Robredo congratulated the winners:

The result:

Russia bt Spain 2-0 (third match abandoned). — Agencies

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