Tennis
Spain wins Hopman Cup over Britain
Tennis

Spain wins Hopman Cup over Britain

Published Jan. 9, 2010 1:26 p.m. ET

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.

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