PERTH, 7 January 2005 — Argentina were gifted a place in the final of the Hopman Cup for the first time yesterday when German Tommy Haas had to withdraw because of an injury in their group match.
Haas had treatment to an injury to his left thigh while leading Guillermo Coria 7-5, 2-2. He played on for one game but decided the injury was too bad to continue.
Although Anna-Lena Groenefeld had put the Germans ahead with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Gisela Dulko, Haas’ injury meant he also defaulted from the deciding mixed doubles.
Argentina won 2-1 to top Group A and seal a place in the final.
Meanwhile, the United States’ hopes of winning a third consecutive Hopman Cup were dealt a major blow when they suffered a surprise defeat to Slovakia.
Daniela Hantuchova beat Meghann Shaughnessy 6-4, 6-2 and Dominik Hrbaty held off James Blake 7-6, 6-4 to give the Slovaks an unassailable lead.
Although Blake and Shaughnessy edged out Hantuchova and Hrbaty in the deciding doubles, the Slovaks won the match 2-1 to gain a small measure of revenge for their defeat by the Americans in last year’s final.
With one win and one defeat apiece from their respective Group B matches, the United States, Slovakia, the Slovak Republic and the Netherlands can all still qualify for tomorrow’s final.
The group scenario was complicated, however, by the withdrawal of Mark Philippoussis because of an adductor injury, costing the Australian team any chance of qualifying.
World No. 324 Paul Baccanello will replace Philippoussis but Australia’s results in their final match against the United States will not count for themselves, though they will count for the Americans.
Slovakia meet the Netherlands in today’s other game. Hantuchova, who has slipped from her career-high ranking of five to No. 31, produced a confident performance to see off Shaughnessy.
After trading breaks in the seventh and eighth games, Hantuchova clinched the vital break in the ninth game and after taking the opening set, she ran away with the second to earn victory in 69 minutes.
Hrbaty, who beat Philippoussis in his opening match on Monday, then fought off a tough challenge from Blake to give the Slovaks a surprise win.
Blake and Shaughnessy then improved the Americans’ chances of qualifying for the final as they saved five match points before beating the Slovak pair in the deciding mixed doubles, 0-6, 7-6 (15-13) and 10-7 in the match tiebreak.
Italy beat top seeds Russia 2-1 in the day’s other match.
Anastasia Myskina put Russia ahead with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Francesca Schiavone but Davide Sanguinetti upset Marat Safin 7-6 (7-0), 6-7 (3-7), 6-0 to level before the Italians won a pro set 8-6 to clinch victory.
Both sides had already been eliminated from the competition.
