Fish and Mattek-Sands Lead U.S. Against Denmark as Hopman Cup Begins This Weekend
Grand Slam singles champions Li Na and Petra Kvitova lead China and Czech Republic, respectively, into the eight-team Hyundai Hopman Cup, taking place Dec. 31-Jan. 7 at the Burswood Dome, Burswood Entertainment Complex in Western Australia. Representing the United States will be top-ranked American, Mardy Fish and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, currently ranked 55th on the WTA Tour.
Li, winner of the 2011 French Open, will face Marion Bartoli of France in the tournament’s opening match Saturday at Burswood Dome. France’s Richard Gasquet takes on Wu Di in men’s singles, and all four will play what could be the deciding match in mixed-doubles to follow.
Australia, led by Lleyton Hewitt, plays Spain in the only match Sunday.
On Monday, Wimbledon champion Kvitova will team with Tomas Berdych to play for the top-seeded Czechs against Bulgaria, and the United States will open play with Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Mardy Fish taking on world women’s number one-ranked Caroline Wozniacki and her teammate, Frederik Nielsen of Denmark.
The seeded nations are determined by the seeding committee of Tournament Director Paul McNamee, Assistant Tournament Director Rob Casey and former Australian Player Geoff Masters. The order of matches in each tie is the women’s singles, the men’s singles and the mixed doubles. All matches are the best of three sets, with the exception of the mixed doubles, which uses the Match tie-break (the first team to reach 10 points) if the match is tied at one set all. The leading teams in each group after three round-robin matches qualify for the Finals.
