PERTH — Kristina Mladenovic and Richard Gasquet clinched France›s second Hopman Cup title, beating Americans CoCo Vandeweghe and Jack Sock 4-1, 4-3 in the deciding mixed doubles match in the tournament final Saturday.
Earlier, Vandeweghe beat Mladenovic 6-4, 7-5 after Gasquet saved a match point in the third-set tiebreaker and held on for a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (6) win over Sock to give France the early lead in the exhibition tournament.
The mixed doubles was played under the Fast4 format of four-game sets, no deuces and a five-point tiebreaker when sets are tied at 3. France shut out the American team in the second-set tiebreaker 5-0.
The French pair had defeated Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the deciding mixed doubles Friday night to advance to the final.
The US has won the Hopman Cup a record six times in the tournament›s 29-year history.
The men›s match lasted 2 1/2 hours.
“I let it slip away at the end,” Sock said. Organizers announced earlier Saturday that the tournament would remain in the Western Australian state capital for at least the next five years. The state government extended its contract with the International Tennis Federation and Tennis Australia to host the exhibition event at Perth Arena until at least 2022.
Pliskova bags Brisbane title
A ruthless Karolina Pliskova won all but five points in the first six games to set up a 6-0, 6-3 rout of Alize Cornet in the Brisbane International final Saturday night.
The US Open finalist will return to a career-high No. 5 ranking for the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 16, after winning her first Brisbane title and seventh on the WTA tour.
On the men›s side, Milos Raonic›s title defense ended in a 7-6 (7), 6-2 semifinal loss to Grigor Dimitrov, who will play third-seeded Kei Nishikori in Sunday›s final.
Dimitrov fended off set point in the tiebreaker and converted his own moments later. He broke Raonic›s serve twice in the second set.
Nishikori beat US Open champion Stan Wawrinka 7-6 (3), 6-3 to reach the final for the first time at the season-opening tournament, ending a run of three semifinal defeats. He has a 3-0 record against Dimitrov, who lost the 2013 Brisbane final to Andy Murray.
Wawrinka, who won the Chennai tournament in India in the first week of the season for the three previous years, had treatment on his left ankle in the first and second sets but didn›t expect it to cause him any trouble at the Australian Open.
Davis wins ASB Classic
American Lauren Davis claimed the first WTA Title of her six-year professional career when she beat Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh 6-3, 6-1 in Saturday›s final of the ASB Classic.
The 23-year-old Ohio-born resident of Boca Raton ousted the tournament›s last surviving seed when she swept past the eighth-seeded Konjuh in 71 minutes.
Davis beat fifth-seeded Kiki Bertens, fourth-seeded Barbora Strycova and seventh-seeded Jelena Ostapenko on her way to the final while Konjuh beat former champion Yanina Wickmayer and last year›s runner-up Julia Goerges. — Agencies
