Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic help Serbia win

Novak Djokovic kick-started his 2011 campaign with a win on Sunday as top seeds Serbia took an unbeatable 2-0 lead over Kazakhstan in their opening match at the Hopman Cup mixed team event.

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Novak Djokovic kick-started his 2011 campaign with a win on Sunday as top seeds Serbia took an unbeatable 2-0 lead over Kazakhstan in their opening match at the Hopman Cup mixed team event. The world No. 3 dropped the first set to Andrey Golubev but slowly wore down the 23-year-old to clinch a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory.

Former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic had earlier put Serbia ahead with a 7-6, 6-1 win over Yaroslava Shvedova.

Djokovic looked like he was suffering from jet-lag in the early stages and Golubev, who began 2010 down at world number 133, took advantage.

But Djokovic, who last month helped his country win the Davis Cup for the first time, broke in the opening game of the second set and with his confidence restored he dropped just four more games.

Ivanovic, who climbed back up to 17th in the rankings after free falling in the first half of 2010, overcame some early- season nerves to see off Shvedova.