Kyrgios leads Australia to Hopman Cup title

AFP, PERTH (AUSTRALIA): Australians Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova beat Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina and Alexandr Dolgopolov to win the mixed teams Hopman Cup in Perth on Saturday.
For the first time, the host nation fielded two teams in the tournament, and Kyrgios and Gavrilova went through the week unbeaten as Australia Green, culminating in their 2-0 win over Ukraine to give Australia their second Hopman Cup title.
Kyrgios collected his first senior ITF tournament title just four months after he was dumped from the Davis Cup team for the semi-final against Great Britain.
Gavrilova was representing her adopted country for the first time, having been naturalised last month.
However, Svitolina then appeared to have the set in her keeping when she led 6-1 in the tiebreak, only for the Australian to peel off the next seven points in succession for an unexpected win, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6).
Kyrgios then used his booming serve to good effect to cruise past Dolgopolov, who had also been unbeaten in singles, in just under an hour, 6-3, 6-4, and claim the final.
Australia’s only previous title was when Mark Phillippoussis teamed with teenager Jelena Dokic in 1999, while Ukraine have been beaten twice in the Hopman Cup final, previously in 1995.

Kyrgios leads Australia to Hopman Cup title

AFP, PERTH (AUSTRALIA): Australians Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova beat Ukraines Elina Svitolina and Alexandr Dolgopolov to win the mixed teams Hopman Cup in Perth on Saturday. For the first time, the host nation fielded two teams in the tournament, and Kyrgios and Gavrilova went through the week unbeaten as Australia Green, culminating in their 2-0 win over Ukraine to give Australia their second Hopman Cup title. Kyrgios collected his first senior ITF tournament title just four months after he was dumped from the Davis Cup team for the semi-final against Great Britain. Gavrilova was representing her adopted country for the first time, having been naturalised last month. However, Svitolina then appeared to have the set in her keeping when she led 6-1 in the tiebreak, only for the Australian to peel off the next seven points in succession for an unexpected win, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6). Kyrgios then used his booming serve to good effect to cruise past Dolgopolov, who had also been unbeaten in singles, in just under an hour, 6-3, 6-4, and claim the final. Australias only previous title was when Mark Phillippoussis teamed with teenager Jelena Dokic in 1999, while Ukraine have been beaten twice in the Hopman Cup final, previously in 1995.