Tennis

Australia takes early lead vs Ukraine in Hopman Cup final

Published Jan. 9, 2016 4:56 a.m. ET

foxsports

PERTH, Australia (AP) Daria Gavrilova beat Elina Svitolina 6-4 ,7-6 (6) Saturday to give the Australia Green team an early 1-0 lead over Ukraine in the Hopman Cup mixed teams tennis final.

Gavrilova trailed 6-1 in the second-set tiebreaker before reeling off seven consecutive points for an unlikely victory.

Nick Kyrgios played Alexandr Dolgopolov in the men's singles match to follow.

The match could be decided with mixed doubles.

Australia is trying to win the tournament for the first time since 1999 when Mark Philippoussis and Jelena Dokic beat Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman and Asa Carlsson.

''It's an event that's been held for a long, long time - before I was even born,'' the 20-year-old Kyrgios said Friday. ''It's pretty special. Especially me and Dasha (Daria) - we grew up together in juniors.''

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