The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Italy still remains in the hunt

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Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009
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Italy still remains in the hunt

PERTH: Flavia Pennetta and Simone Bolelli joined forces to steer Italy to a 2-1 win over France at the Hopman Cup here on Tuesday.

France won the opening rubber when Alize Cornet beat Pennetta 7-5, 6-2 but Bolelli squared the tie with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Gilles Simon, his first-ever win against a player ranked in the world’s top 10.

The Italians then teamed up to win the deciding mixed doubles encounter 6-4, 7-6(2) to remain in contention for a place in the final after the loss to Russia on Sunday.

France, which opened its Group ‘B’ round-robin stage with a victory over Taiwan, also remained in the hunt.

Bolelli was delighted with his performance against the young Frenchman. “Finally, I won against a top 10, I played very well,” Bolelli said. “I served very well and I played aggressive tennis.”

Cornet, who rose one place to a career-best 15 in the new WTA rankings, was also thrilled with her first win against Pennetta.

“I am proud of the way I played today, I had never beaten Flavia before,” she said. “It was a really good match for me, but I am really disappointed we lost in the doubles,” Cornet added.

France’s best Hopman Cup performance in 15 previous attempts has been a final appearance in 1998 when it lost to Slovakia.

The results:

Group ‘B’: Italy bt France 2-1 (Flavia Pennetta lost to Alize Cornet 7-5, 6-2; Simone Bolelli bt Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-3; Pennetta / Bolelli bt Cornet / Simon 6-4, 7-6(2).

Monday’s result: Group ‘A’: Slovakia bt United States 3-0 (Dominika Cibulkova bt Meghann Shaughnessy 6-2, 6-2; Dominik Hrbaty bt James Blake 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(1); Cibulkova / Hrbaty bt Shaughnessy / Blake 6-4, 7-6(4). — Agencies

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