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January 4, 2010

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Spain sweeps past US 3-0 in Hopman Cup

TOMMY Robredo defeated John Isner 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (4) yesterday to clinch a 3-0 win for Spain over the United States at the Hopman Cup mixed teams tournament in Perth.

Earlier, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez beat American Melanie Oudin 6-4, 6-4 to give Spain a 1-0 lead.

After Robredo's singles win, Martinez Sanchez and Robredo beat the American pair 6-4, 7-5 to complete the victory.

Robredo took a 3-0 in the final set tiebreaker but Isner fought back to level it at 4-4 before Robredo won the final three points to clinch the match.

Martinez Sanchez, a serve-and-volleyer, had her service broken by Oudin, the 18-year-old US Open quarterfinalist, for the first time while serving for the match at 5-2. In the final game, the Spanish player faced two breaks points before clinching the match.

Martinez Sanchez said she was physically ill yesterday with an unknown ailment. "But now I'm much better, I have to eat and get ready for the next match," she said. "I was winning 5-2 and you have some doubts but in the end ... I could win."

Britain, led by No. 4 Andy Murray, will play Kazakhstan today, while Germany takes on Russia in Group B matches.

Murray will team with 15-year-old Laura Robson against the Kazakhstan pair of Andrey Golubev and Yaroslava Shvedova.

In Group A, Spain and Romania have 1-0 records while Australia, which lost to Romania 1-2 on Saturday, and the US are 0-1. The top teams in each group meet in next Saturday's final.

In Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Rafael Nadal won his first title of 2010, beating Robin Soderling 7-6 (3), 7-5 in the final of the season- opening World Tennis Championships late on Saturday to end a two-match losing streak against the Swede.

After both players held serve throughout the first set, the second-ranked Spaniard broke decisively in the sixth game of the second set.

Soderling had ended Nadal's 31-game unbeaten run on clay at the French Open last year, and beat him again at the season-sending ATP Tour World Finals in London.

Roger Federer defeated David Ferrer of Spain 6-1, 7-5 to finish third.

Nadal said overtaking Federer was not his main target for 2010.

"Everybody wants the No. 1 ranking but, believe me, for me it is not my goal for this year," Nadal said.

"To play competitively throughout and win as many tournaments as I can, that is my goal. To be happy playing, to be healthy and to play like I have played over the last two days."



 

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