PERTH: Andy Murray swept Igor Andreev 6-1, 6-0 as Britain beat Russia 2-1 Friday to claim a spot in the final of the Hopman Cup mixed teams tennis event for the first time.
Elena Dementieva gave Russia a 1-0 lead when she beat 15-year-old Laura Robson 6-4, 6-0, but Murray made it 1-1 with his singles win and then teamed with Robson to beat Andreev and Dementieva 6-4, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (6) in an exciting mixed doubles climax.
Murray has spent less than three hours on court in his three singles wins here in the Hopman Cup and told local media he was feeling confident ahead of the Australian Open, the first major of the season which starts Jan. 18 in Melbourne.
“If I can play like that then I can win Australia for sure,” Murray was quoted as saying. “But I need to make sure I do it in a couple of weeks and play like that from the start of the tournament until the end.” Murray is skipping the tournament in Doha, Qatar this year after winning the title there in the previous two years.
He’s hoping his change in preparation will help net him his first major title.
“I’ve always started the years pretty well. I’ve won Doha two years in a row so I always started playing pretty well going into Australia,” he said. “In terms of the way I was striking the ball and moving and playing well up at the net and taking chances, that was probably the best I’ve played at the start of a year.
“Sometimes you play two, three matches like that a year and fortunately one of them was today. Hopefully I’ve got a couple more in the Aussie Open.” The British pair had to win to earn the right to face Spain, which clinched its place in the final with a win over hosts and top-seeded Australia on Thursday in the other group.
Murray set the tone for the encounter with a comprehensive win over Andreev in just 48 minutes, and contributed vital points throughout the doubles to ensure Britain followed up its earlier Group B wins over Kazakhstan and Germany. He was unbeaten in the group stage, winning all three of his singles matches and combining with Robson for three doubles wins. Robson lost all her singles matches but was a good, consistent support for Murray in doubles.
Kazakhstan beat Germany 2-0 in Friday’s other group B match.
Andreev, the world No. 35, was unable to match Murray’s power as the Scot took the first set in 29 minutes. Murray wrapped up the second set in only 19 minutes as Andreev appeared powerless to match his strength and scope.
Dementieva’s experience carried her to a convincing win over world No. 403 Robson, though the young Briton pulled back two service breaks to square the first set at 4-4.
Dementieva then took control, winning eight straight games to complete her win in 66 minutes.
“She’s playing unbelievably well for 15 years old, I was very impressed with her,” Dementieva said.
A loss for Britain would have given Kazakhstan a shot at the final, provided it beat Germany.
Yaroslava Shvedova beat Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 7-6 (3) and Andrey Golubev beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-1 in the singles.
Spain is a two-time winner of the Hopman Cup, in 1990 and 2002, while Britain is making its first appearance in the final.
