Novak Djokovic comfortably handled Lleyton Hewitt 6-2, 6-4 as Serbia stayed unbeaten at the Hopman Cup with a 2-0 victory over Australia on Tuesday.
Ana Ivanovic produced another impressive performance to see off Alicia Molik 6-4, 6-0 and win the first point for Serbia despite suffering an injury scare in the second set when she appeared to overextend her left knee.
Serbia leads Group A with two wins and can reach Saturday's final with a last round-robin win on Thursday over Belgium, which eliminated Kazakhstan 3-0 to stay in contention. Australia also has one win, and plays Kazakhstan on Thursday.
Djokovic, who has won his last four matches against Hewitt on the ATP Tour, saved four break points at 2-2 then won four games on the trot to take the first set 6-2.
Egged on by a pocket of noisy Serbian supporters, the third-ranked Djokovic broke Hewitt in the second game, only for the Australian to break straight back. The next games went with serve until Hewitt suffered the heartbreak of double-faulting twice at 5-4 to hand Djokovic the win.
''I played great, especially the beginning of the second I was playing some of the best tennis I've played in this year and a half,'' Djokovic said.
''We players have great respect for him (Hewitt) because he's a big fighter, he keeps on coming back. He's won everything -- Grand Slam, world No. 1, Davis Cup -- and he wants more, so you have to respect that.''
Ivanovic was relieved to feel OK after overextending her left knee midway through a point while leading Molik by a set and 3-0. Ivanovic managed to finish off the set 6-0.
''I was a little bit scared because in that one split step that I made I went a little bit low and I felt a sharp pain in my knee,'' Ivanovic said. ''So I thought I better check with the doctors and see what they think. I'm going to go see them afterwards. But it feels fine.
''We had some really tough points and good rallies. I think it was high-class tennis considering it's just the beginning of the year.''
Earlier, seven-time Grand Slam winner Justine Henin downed Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-3 as Belgium swept their tie.
The win kept alive Belgium's hopes of reaching the final after an opening loss to Australia in Group A. Kazakhstan was eliminated after its second straight 3-0 loss, the first to Serbia.
Karatantcheva was brought in overnight to replace Yaroslava Shvedova, who withdrew after injuring her knee against Ivanovic on Sunday.
This was Henin's first appearance at the Hopman Cup, having chosen last year to play at the Brisbane International, where the former world No. 1 lost to fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters in the final.
''It's my first time in Perth and it's a great experience,'' Henin said. ''I wait 28 years to come here, but maybe I'll come back next year, who knows. I love to play in Australia, they have a sports culture, it's just great.''
Karatantcheva, who reached the French Open quarterfinals in 2005 before serving a two-year ban for testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone, rallied briefly to go 3-1 up in the second set. But Henin bounced back to take the set and match.
''It's not that easy, especially after the injury (to the right elbow since Wimbledon) so I'm working hard to come back,'' Henin said.
''It's the first two matches so I know it's going to take a little bit of time, but it's great to have the opportunity to play and be in competition again.''
Belgian youngster Ruben Bemelmans, ranked 178th, later pulled off a surprise 6-4, 6-4 win over 36th-ranked Andrey Golubev in the second singles. Henin and Bemelmans then beat Karatantcheva and Golubev in the mixed doubles 4-6, 6-2 (10-8 tiebreaker).
They will meet Serbia on Thursday in their final round-robin match.
''I'm feeling good here in Australia ...'' Bemelmans said. ''I'm really looking forward to playing (Novak) Djokovic on Thursday. Justine is a great player, it's a real honor to stand next to her in the mixed doubles, it takes the pressure off a little bit of me, because she's playing great.''
