Spain won its third Hopman Cup title and Tommy Robredo and Maria
Jose Martinez Sanchez combined to beat Britain's Andy Murray and
Laura Robson 7-6 (6), 7-5 in mixed doubles on Saturday.
The Spanish pair broke Robson's serve in the deciding game.
It came after Robson won her first singles match of the week, 6-1,
7-6 (6) over Martinez Sanchez, to give Britain an early 1-0 lead.
Robredo tied the final by winning his fourth straight singles
match of the tournament, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 to hand Murray his first
loss in singles.
It was also the first loss of the week for Murray and Robson
in mixed doubles.
In the mixed doubles decider, Spain twice went up a break in
the first set, but Britain broke back both times in the next game,
including when Martinez Sanchez was serving for the set at 6-5.
In the tiebreaker, Spain saved three set points and won five
points in a row overall to claim the opening set.
In his singles match, Murray converted just two of 11 break
points and committed 29 unforced errors.
"I'm so happy because Andy is one of the great players in the
world right now and beating him at the beginning of the year is
going to give me a lot of confidence," Robredo said.
"After 6-1 for Andy (in the first set) he was playing amazing
and I was only hoping to keep playing to enjoy the match. I just
tried my best and kept going.
"I was just watching the diamond ball (the winner's prize)
and I was pushing hard because I really would love to have one
more."
Robredo won the event in 2002, when his partner was Arantxa
Sanchez Vicario.
Robson led her singles match 6-2 in the second-set tiebreaker
but needed five match points to clinch it.
"I was pretty nervous at the end, but I just kept trying to
go for my shots," Robson said. "I played pretty well, particularly
in the first set."
Britain was playing in the Hopman Cup final for the first
time, thanks to Murray winning all his matches comfortably to
compensate for the losses of the inexperienced Robson in group
meetings with Russia, Germany and Kazakhstan.
Spain was in its fifth final. Saturday's women's singles
result was its first dropped match, after sweeping the group-stage
matchups with hosts Australia, the United States and Romania.
Robson, the 2008 junior Wimbledon champion, received some
good news Saturday - Australian Open officials awarded her a wild
card into next week's qualifying tournament in Melbourne.
"Laura has had a quick rise on the international scene and
deserves this opportunity," Australian Open tournament director
Craig Tiley said.
