ITALY has dropped out of the three-way battle for the vacant berth in Saturday’s final of the $1-million Hyundai Hopman Cup tennis championship being played at Perth’s Burswood Dome today and the race is now between Belgium and the USA.
Top seeds and early favourites the United States are on top in the winner-take-all battle with fourth seeds Belgium, with Monica Seles fighting back to beat Kim Clijsters 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Seles overcome some early serving problems and from mid-way through the second set had Clijsters on the back foot even though the match went for 107 minutes.
The men’s singles between Jan-Michael Gambill and Xavier Malisse is now on court, with the mixed doubles to follow.
Italy’s hopes of coming over the top of either Belgium or the USA were lifted a little when Francesca Schiavone took her singles match on default when Virginie Razzano pulled out at 1-1 in the first set, with a troublesome hamstring injury flaring up again.
With Italy needing to win all three rubbers in straight sets, Frenchman Arnaud Clement put an end to that speculation when he downed Davide Sanguinetti 6-3, 7-5.
Saturday’s final, which already sees Spain holding one place after beating Australia on default yesterday due to Lleyton Hewitt’s bout of chicken pox, will start at 10am and carries $240,000 prizemoney for the winners and $120,000 for the runners-up.
