Serena and Isner Survive Hopman Cup Opening Round

It was not the start that Serena Williams had envisioned when she took the court at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia on Monday. The top-ranked American, who is teaming up with John Isner at the international mixed team tournament, threw up a bagel in the first set against Flavia Pannetta, but rallied back in the next two frames to escape 0-6, 6-3, 6-0.

Williams’ received a coffee break in between the first and second sets to which she attributes her dominance in the match’s final two sets.

“I was just feeling it, so I just had to get some coffee into me,” said Williams after the match. “I just asked them to get me a shot of espresso—I asked them if it was legal, because I’ve never done it before. I needed to wake up.”

While both Williams and Isner have won the Hopman Cup before, the two are representing the United States together for the first time. Isner complimented Williams win with a 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(4) win of his own, giving the US a 2-0 lead over Group A opponent Italy.

In the mixed doubles match, Isner and Williams had to save two match points and escaped in a third-set tiebreaker for the 6-2, 2-6, 11-9 victory, sweeping the Italians 3-0.

Next up for the American pair is the Canadian duo of Eugenie Bouchard and Vasek Pospisil, who dropped their opening round-robin match to the Czech Republic.

Representing Great Britain, Andy Murray and Heather Watson teamed up to edge France 2-1 in their opening round-robin contest.

Murray got things started with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Benoit Paire, but the contest would come to a deciding mixed doubles match after Watson fell to Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-2.

In the rubber match, the duo edged the France pair 6-4, 2-6, 10-8 to seal the victory. Afterwards, Murray was nursing a sore left shoulder, an injury he dealt with at the Abu Dhabi exhibition last week.

“I had the problem in Abu Dhabi a couple of days ago and I haven’t had much time to serve after that,” said Murray. “We flew straight from there and arrived yesterday. It doesn’t really make sense for a right-handed player to have a problem with their left arm. So I am not sure exactly what it was and I had a scan in Abu Dhabi and that was all clear.

But it’s still a little bit sore today.”

Up next for the Britons in Perth is the Polish duo of Agnieszka Radwanska and Jerzy Janowicz.