January 2, 2002	Wednesday	Shawwal 17, 1422

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PERTH, Jan 1: Spain’s Tommy Robredo applied the lethal touch to send defending champions Switzerland out of the Hopman Cup Tuesday, beating their number one player Roger Federer 7-6, 6-2.

Federer and girlfriend Miroslava Vavrinec lost to Australia in Sunday’s opening Group B match and now have no chance of reaching Saturday’s final.

Robredo’s win maintained Spain’s 100 percent record in the mixed team event this year after they beat Argentina 3-0 Sunday.

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, bidding to become the first player to win the Hopman Cup twice, had put third-seeded Spain on their way with a 6-2, 6-0 demolition of Vavrinec in the Burswood Dome.

The pair later teamed up to beat Federer and Vavrinec 6-2, 6-3 in the mixed doubles for another 3-0 victory.

Tuesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Group B:

3-Spain bt Switzerland 3-0 (Tommy Robredo bt Roger Federer 7-6 (9-7), 6-2; Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario bt Miroslava Vavrinec 6-2, 6-0; Robredo/Sanchez-Vicario bt Federer/Vavrinec 6-2, 6-3).

Group A:

4-Belgium bt Italy 2-1 (Francesca Schiavone bt Kim Clijsters 6-4, 6-4; Davide Sanguinetti lost to Xavier Malisse 6-4, 7-5l Sanguinetti/Schiavone lost to Malisse/Clijsters 6-3, 6-4).

Meanwhile, British top seed Tim Henman overcame storm interruptions to knock Australian Richard Fromberg out of the Australian men’s hardcourt tennis championship in Adelaide.

The British No 1 prevailed 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-0 to win the opening round match.

Tuesday’s results:

1-Tim Henman (Britain) bt Richard Fromberg (Australia) 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-0; Kenneth Carlsen (Denmark) bt Wayne Black (Zimbabwe) 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (3-7), 6-0; Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) bt Ramon Delgado (Paraguay) 6-1, 6-3; Nicolas Massu (Chile) bt Attila Savolt (Hungary) 6-2, 6-1; Sjeng Schalken (Netherlands) bt Alex Kim (US) 6-3. 6-2.

GOLD COAST (Australia): Wimbledon finalist Justine Henin made a nervous start to the defence of her Australian women’s hardcourt championship Tuesday.

The Belgian teenager was completely out of sorts in the opening set of her second-round match with Daniela Hantuchova before fighting back to beat the Slovakian 1-6 6-0 6-3.

Henin won the event last year to kickstart her best season as a professional tennis player but faces a difficult time retaining her title this year with Venus Williams, the woman who beat her in the Wimbledon final, the tournament favourite.

Results:

Second round 2-Justine Henin (Belgium) beat Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 1-6 6-0 6-3; 7-Daja Bedanova (Czech Republic) beat Joannette Kruger (South Africa) 3-6 7-5 6-2

First round 5-Silvia Farina-Elia (Italy) beat Emile Loit (France) 6-2 4-6 6-3; Cho Yoon-jeong (South Korea) beat Irina Selyutina (Kazakhstan) 6-2 6-4