Hopman Cup 2016: Wednesday Tennis Scores, Results and Updated Schedule
Great Britain suffered a tough defeat against Australia Green after a dramatic doubles encounter at the 2016 Hopman Cup in Perth on Wednesday.
Andy Murray and Heather Watson couldn't overcome Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova despite battling back to push the match into what proved to be a wild tiebreak.
The eventual win for the latter pair meant a 2-1 defeat for Great Britain in the tie. Murray had been beaten in straight sets by Kyrgios in singles action, before Watson provided some hope by outlasting Gavrilova.
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Earlier, Germany bounced back from their defeat to Australia Green with a 2-1 win over France. Caroline Garcia gave the French the lead as she saw off Sabine Lisicki in straight sets, before Alexander Zverev levelled the score against Kenny De Schepper.
The German pair then teamed up to beat their French counterparts in a hard-fought three-set epic.
Here are the results from the day's action, the latest schedule and a closer look at how the matches unfolded:
| Sabine Lisicki | 2-6, 6-7 (5) | Caroline Garcia |
| Alexander Zverev | 6-2, 6-2 | Kenny De Schepper |
| Sabine Lisicki & Alexander Zverev | 6-4, 6-7 (6), 10-6 | Caroline Garcia & Kenny De Schepper |
| Andy Murray | 4-6, 6-7(5) | Nick Kyrgios |
| Heather Watson | 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-5 | Daria Gavrilova |
| Andy Murray & Heather Watson | 2-6, 7-6(0), 9-11 | Nick Kyrgios & Daria Gavrilova |
| Jarmila Wolfe | 2 a.m. GMT/9 p.m. ET (Wed. 6) | Elina Svitolina |
| Lleyton Hewitt | 2 a.m. GMT/9 p.m. ET (Wed. 6) | Alexandr Dolgopolov |
| Lleyton Hewitt/Jarmila Wolfe | 2 a.m. GMT/9 p.m. ET (Wed. 6) | Alexandr Dolgopolov/Elina Svitolina |
| Karolina Pliskova | 9:30 a.m. GMT/4:30 a.m. ET | Vicky Duval |
| Jiri Vesely | 9:30 a.m. GMT/4:30 a.m. ET | Jack Sock |
| Jiri Vesely/Karolina Pliskova | 9:30 a.m. GMT/4:30 a.m. ET | Jack Sock/Vicky Duval |
Wednesday Recap
Great Britain and Australia Green provided some of the day's most spectacular tennis, with thrilling rallies defining a difficult-to-judge tiebreak. Kyrgios and Gavrilova always appeared to have more control of the match and, indeed, played some unpredictable tennis to secure the win.
One memorable back-and-forth display was highlighted, per the Hopman Cup feed:
The pace of the scoring remained relentless and fraught, with rarely much to choose between the respective teams:
In the end though, Kyrgios and Gavrilova stood strong to become worthy winners. Murray's inability to assert his dominance was a huge disappointment for the British, while Watson also missed a handful of key shots.
The same problem proved decisive when Murray lost his first-ever singles match against Kyrgios. He couldn't take set point leading 5-4, per BBC Sport. It was one of many costly errors.
Murray pinpointed the reason for the blip:
It took a marathon effort from Watson to get Great Britain back on terms. A third set was needed to separate Watson and Gavrilova, a third set which featured more than a few moments of fortune, both good and bad:
Afterwards, Watson noted the physical toll the lengthy match had taken:
Earlier in the day, France and Germany began their tie with Garcia and Lisicki in singles action. The former broke in the opening game and raced to a 6-2 victory in the first set against Lisicki, who made five double-faults.
However, the one-time Wimbledon finalist made the second a far tougher contest for her younger opponent and took the match to a tiebreaker. Garcia proved admirably resilient, though, and narrowly edged out Lisicki to five.
As the tournament's official Twitter feed shared, the 22-year-old has put in a strong showing at the Hopman Cup this week:
Up next was Zverev, and he made short work of Garcia's team-mate, De Schepper, to take the men's singles match 6-2, 6-2. The 18-year-old felt particularly confident in his work at the baseline, per the Hopman Cup on Twitter:
Per the tournament's official website, Zverev worked exceptionally well with Lisicki in the mixed doubles, with the former providing "power and tremendous reach" and the latter showing her experience and using her "big serve and relentless competitiveness" to devastating effect.
Indeed, the pair raced through the opening set in just half an hour. Garcia and De Schepper came together to put up more of a fight in the second set, and the teams exchanged two breaks apiece, but ultimately, the superior German side came out on top in the decisive tiebreaker.
For Great Britain, reaching the final will depend on beating Germany by a comfortable margin on Friday, while hoping France can do the same against Australia Green, per BBC Sport.
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