Hopman Cup 2017: Thursday Tennis Scores, Results and Updated Schedule
The U.S. and Spain won their respective matches with hard-fought victories on a rainy Thursday in Perth, Australia, as Group B of the Hopman Cup drew to a close.
The Americans had already sealed their place in Saturday's final after winning all six matches across their first two ties, but they still ended the group with a flourish thanks to an unexpected straight-sets win for Jack Sock over Nick Kyrgios.
Spain's Feliciano Lopez was also a big winner on the day, beating the Czech Republic's Adam Pavlasek to put his nation into second place to end their tournament on a high.
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Here are the full results from Thursday's matches, as well as the schedule for Friday:
| Lucie Hradecka (CZE) d Lara Arruabarrena (ESP) | 6-2, 6-4 |
| Feliciano Lopez (ESP) d Adam Pavlasek (CZE) | 7-6 (5), 6-4 |
| Arruabarrena / Lopez (ESP) d Hradecka / Pavlasek (CZE) | 4-2, 4-1 |
| Jack Sock (USA) d Nick Kyrgios (AUS) | 6-2, 6-2 |
| Daria Gavrilova (AUS) d CoCo Vandeweghe (USA) | 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 |
| Vandeweghe / Sock (USA) d Gavrilova / Matt Ebden (AUS) | 4-1, 4-1 |
| Germany vs. Great Britain (Day - 2:00 a.m. GMT) | Switzerland vs. France (Night - 9:30 a.m. GMT) |
| Andrea Petkovic (GER) vs. Heather Watson (GBR | Roger Federer (SUI) vs. Richard Gasquet (FRA) |
| Alexander Zverev (GER) vs. Dan Evans (GBR) | Belinda Bencic (SUI) vs. Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) |
| Petkovic/Zverev (GER) vs. Watson/Evans (GBR) | Federer/Bencic (SUI) vs. Mladenovic/Gasquet (FRA) |
Scheduling and match information via the Hopman Cup's official website.
Spain 2-1 Czech Republic
Spain ended their 2017 Hopman Cup participation with a difficult win over the Czech Republic, and the men's singles match between Lopez and Pavlasek was the pick of the bunch.
Lopez eventually won in straight sets, 7-6 (5), 6-4, but it was no easy task. Pavlasek broke the Spaniard's serve in the opening exchanges only for Lopez to break back and quash any threat of a shock early lead for the 22-year-old Czech.
But Pavlasek would not lie down, and he stormed to a 3-0 lead in the first-set tiebreak, only for Lopez to gradually seize control with some fierce groundstrokes, as he took a one-set lead. The second set was equally difficult for the favourite, but at 4-4, Lopez finally broke the Czech's serve and comfortably saw out the match.
Lucie Hradecka beat Lara Arruabarrena 6-2, 6-4 at the beginning of the day in a contest that was notably low key in comparison with Lopez's struggle. The ease with which the women's singles match was won by the Czech player gave them a 1-0 lead before Lopez and Pavlasek's meeting, but their advantage did not last for long.
The deciding match, the Fast4 mixed doubles event, ended up being a simple win for the Spanish duo. Lopez and Arruabarrena broke serve in the sixth game to triumph 4-2 in the opening set, and that late collapse appeared to psychologically derail the Czech team.
Spain flew to a 3-0 lead in the second, eventually winning 4-1 and taking the tie. The final match, which had promised so much after the strong performance of the Czech players in the singles contests, was over in half an hour.
USA 2-1 Australia
Sock got the U.S. off to a flying start in the night session with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Kyrgios, who was ranked 13th in the world in 2016 but continued the form on Thursday that led to Rod Laver recently expressing his disappointment with the Australian's progress.
“Ability-wise, he could be the best tennis player in the world, only he is the one that gets in his way," Laver told reporters, as per the Australian Associated Press. “He plays some magnificent tennis, but then something gets in the way and he finds himself being challenged by other things."
And so it was against Sock. Despite being the favourite, he was defeated comfortably in straight sets, setting the Americans up for a clean sweep of the Hopman Cup with their seventh victory out of seven. However, the perfect record was not to be.
The most interesting match of the tie between Australia and the U.S. was undoubtedly the women’s singles contest between Daria Gavrilova and CoCo Vandeweghe, who are separated by just 11 places on the WTA world rankings (25th and 36th, respectively).
The Australian eventually overcame her opponent in the final set of a gruelling event in Perth, winning 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, with play disrupted by unexpected rain and both players suffering from a litany of mistakes. At 3-3 in the third—just before Gavrilova hit her stride and won a point for her country—there had already been 39 unforced errors in the match.
Negative body language and stuttering rallies defined the contest, making for frustrating viewing for the Australian crowd but an interesting battle for neutrals. There was a huge sense of relief in the stadium as Gavrilova sealed the contest, not least because it was the Americans' first and only match defeat across the entire round-robin stage.
The event was finished off with a 4-1, 4-1 Fast4 mixed-doubles victory for the U.S. (with Matt Ebden replacing the injured Kyrgios), ensuring that they enter the final having beaten all three of the other nations in their group, as the Hopman Cup pointed out on Twitter:
Australia, meanwhile, are knocked out after losing against all three of the U.S., Spain and Czech Republic.
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