Nadia Petrova and California-based Dmitry Tursunov beat Ashley Harkleroad and Mardy Fish 6-3, 7-5 on Tuesday to give Russia a 2-1 win over the United States at the Hopman Cup.
Russia move to 1-1 in Group A while defending champions USA are 0-2 after an opening loss to France. France will try to improve to 2-0 with a late match on Tuesday against Australia, who beat Russia on Saturday.
The highlight of the mixed doubles was Tursunov's acrobatic over-the-shoulder smash volley in the final game, which Fish said was the luckiest shot he had seen. "Apparently it is called a lucky shot, but I can do that all day," Tursunov said. "You have no idea how many times I have practiced that."
Hewitt enters second round
Adelaide: Hewitt, playing singles for the first time since losing in the Davis Cup against Argentine Jose Acasuso three months ago, beat Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic at the Adelaide International on Tuesday after Tipsarevic retired with a thigh injury. The former World No 1 Australian was leading 6-1, 4-2.
Earlier, Novak Djokovic of Serbia and France's Richard Gasquet defeated Czech Jan Hajek 6-0, 6-1 and Germany's Florian Mayer respectively in under an hour. Meanwhile, the tournament lost its first seeded player when No 5 seed Dominik Hrbaty lost to American Paul Goldstein 6-2, 7-6 (4). Third-seed Radek Stepanek will need to defeat Russian Evgeny Korolev in his next round-robin match to have a chance of progressing to the final eight after losing to American Vince Spadea 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, Novak Djokovic of Serbia and France's Richard Gasquet defeated Czech Jan Hajek 6-0, 6-1 and Germany's Florian Mayer respectively in under an hour. Meanwhile, the tournament lost its first seeded player when No 5 seed Dominik Hrbaty lost to American Paul Goldstein 6-2, 7-6 (4). Third-seed Radek Stepanek will need to defeat Russian Evgeny Korolev in his next round-robin match to have a chance of progressing to the final eight after losing to American Vince Spadea 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday.
{{/usCountry}}The highlight of the mixed doubles was Tursunov's acrobatic over-the-shoulder smash volley in the final game, which Fish said was the luckiest shot he had seen.
Gold Coast: Martina Hingis needed only 46 minutes on Tuesday to complete a 6-0, 6-1 win over Australian Nicole Pratt at the Australian Women's Hardcourt Championship.
Earlier, Dinara Safina of Russia won against compatriot Elena Likhovtseva 6-3, 6-2. Italian Tathiana Garbin and Russia's Elena Vesnina were other players to advance. Catalina Castano of Colombia beat sixth-seeded Li Na of China 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.