Host Australia wins Hopman Cup
Posted: Saturday January 09, 1999 09:50 AM
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Up in arms: Mark Philippoussis' (above) victory over Jonas Bjorkman clinched the win for the Australians AP |
PERTH, Australia (AP) -- Australia defeated Sweden to win the Hopman Cup for the first time in the mixed teams tennis tournament's 11-year history on Saturday.
Teenage phenomenon Jelena Dokic, the 15-year-old world junior champion, continued her string of upsets when she beat Asa Carlsson 6-2, 7-6 (10-8), and Mark Philippoussis clinched Australia's victory with a 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) win over Jonas Bjorkman.
Dokic, ranked 341, added Carlsson to a list of victims that included Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Sandrine Tested.
Carlsson, ranked 92, was unable to outclass her rival in the fierce baseline rallies. Dokic often increased the pace and caught Carlsson off guard, and she also kept the Swede under pressure with an exceptional forehand and driving double-handed backhand.
When Carlsson became more aggressive and forced her way back into contention, recovering from 1-4 in the second set, Dokic remained composed and held three match points at 5-3.
Although Carlsson survived then, Dokic finally claimed victory in the tiebreak on her seventh match point.
"It's probably the greatest day of my life," said Dokic. "I've never won something this big before and it gives me great confidence. We weren't expected to win coming into the tournament, but I've played some great tennis and got through."
Philippoussis also survived a second-set challenge after a single break of serve for 4-2 gave him the first. Bjorkman had seen four break points in the first set come to nothing, but when Philippoussis double-faulted he finally broke on his sixth opportunity to lead 3-1 in the second set.
But with Bjorkman leading 5-2 and a third set looking a certainty, the Swede's own serve began to falter. Two double-faults in the ninth game allowed Philippoussis to break back to 4-5, and he survived a second crisis in the tiebreak, recovering from 0-4 to give Australia victory.
"I hit a double fault to lose my service game in the second set, and he hit a couple of double-faults to let me back into it," said Philippoussis. "In the tiebreaker he played some good points to be up, and I just put my head down and tried to get back a point here and there."
Dokic will be restricted by WTA tour rules to the number of tournaments she can play, and she believes that will hold her back as she seeks to improve her ranking.
"I can play eight tournaments until April, and I've played two," she said. "Then I can play 10 between my 16th and 17th birthdays.
"I'm not very happy with that. It's not much at all and makes it pretty tough to get my ranking down. It's going to be very tough, but that's the way the rules are."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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