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Germany squeaks past Australia

GERMANY triumphed in a deciding mixed doubles tiebreaker to defeat Australia 2-1 in their Group A clash at the Hopman Cup in Perth yesterday.

Sabine Lisicki won her opening singles match and then joined German teammate Nicolas Kiefer to beat Australia in mixed doubles and clinch a 2-1 victory.

Lisicki defeated Casey Dellacqua, coming from a service break down in the deciding set to win 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 and give Germany a 1-0 lead. Australian Lleyton Hewitt returned from a five-month injury layoff to beat Kiefer 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-2 and level the match.

The German pair then beat Dellacqua and Hewitt 6-7 (2), 6-3 and 10-5 in the match tiebreaker to claim the deciding mixed doubles.

Slovakia defeated the defending champion United States 2-0 late last night. Dominika Cibulkova defeated Meghann Shaughnessy 6-2, 6-2 to open and Dominik Hrbaty guaranteed victory in the best of three team event with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 win over James Blake. A mixed-doubles match between the teams had yet to finish.

Former No. 1 Hewitt hasn't played since losing in the second round to Rafael Nadal at the Beijing Olympics in August. Hewitt was sidelined by a chronic hip injury after Beijing and later had surgery.

"It's great to be back," said Hewitt. "It feels good, the hip feels strong. I've done everything in my power to get as close to 100 percent for the Australian summer and it's a matter of just trying to come out here now and play a lot of matches."

Hewitt said he had trouble getting his rhythm.

"He's (Kiefer) a great all-court player, and it was hard to get a read," Hewitt said. "It was a matter of me hanging in."

In Auckland, New Zealand, former world No. 7 Nicole Vaidisova began her comeback from an injury-affected 2008 with a first-round win at the ASB Classic women's tennis tournament yesterday.

Vaidisova, the sixth seed on her current ranking of 41, beat Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-5.

Fourth-seeded Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada beat Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-5 on a day in which all four seeded players moved to the second round.

Third-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain beat Italy's Mara Santangelo 7-5, 6-0 and No. 5 Shahar Peer of Israel beat Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic 7-6 (4), 6-2.

In a match between unseeded veterans, American Jill Craybas, 34, beat Japanese wild card Kimiko Date Krumm 6-3, 6-4.


 

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