TOP SEEDS and pre-tournament favourites the United States are locked in a tense battle with third seeds Spain in the final of the $1-million Hyundai Hopman Cup tennis championship at Perth’s Burswood Resort today.
The final is neatly balanced at one rubber all with the two singles matches split and now the mixed doubles will decide this year’s champions, with both nations chasing their second victory in the teams trophy.
Former world No. 1 Monica Seles put the opening rubber on the board for the USA with a quality 6-1, 7-6 victory over Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, also a one-time No. 1, with the tiebreaker going eight points to six.
But rising young Spanish star Tommy Robredo put the final back on level terms with a courageous three-set victory over the more-fancied Jan-Michael Gambill, winning 6-3, 2-6, 7-6, with the tiebreaker going seven points to two.
The 19-year-old Robredo, who hasn’t lost a match in his Cup debut, saved two match points as Gambill served at 5-4 and broke back to force the tiebreaker.
The mixed doubles will now determine whether Sanchez or Seles become the first player in 14 years of Hopman Cup championships to win the trophy twice. Seles won in 1991 for her home country Yugoslavia, while Sanchez Vicario shared the second Hopman Cup.
The winners of Hopman Cup XIV will earn $240,000 prizemoney, plus the two special Argyle diamond-encrusted tennis balls, with the losing finalists taking home $120,000.
