PERTH (Australia), Jan 9: Dominika Cibulkova and Dominik Hbraty led Slovakia to the Hopman Cup title on Friday with singles victories over Russian siblings Dinara Safina and Marat Safin.

Cibulkova beat Safina 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-4 to give Slovakia a 1-0 lead and hand Safina her first singles loss of the tournament. Hrbaty then beat Safin, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (3) to clinch the championship before about 8,000 people at the Burswood Dome.

Each team had 3-0 records going into the final and led their groups in round-robin play.

It was Slovakia’s third title in the 21-year history of the Hopman Cup. Hrbaty won the mixed teams’ event in 2005 with Daniela Hantuchova.

Safina, who defeated Alize Cornet of France, Italy’s Flavia Pennetta and Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan in the group stages, gave away three set points in the 10th game of the opening set.

Trailing 5-1 in the deciding set, Safina won the next three games, but Cibulkova held her serve in the final game to take the match. It was the Slovakian’s first win over Safina in three career matches.

Safin, who was unusually subdued during his group matches, displayed his typical volatility in the final, smashing a racket in the first set.

Friday’s result:

Final: Slovak Republic bt Russia 2-0: Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) bt Dinara Safina (Russia) 6-7 (7-3), 6-1, 6-4; Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) bt Marat Safin (Russia) 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 7-6 (7-3).

Thursday’s results:

Group A:

US bt Australia 2-1: Casey Dellacqua (Australia) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (US) 6-3, 6-4; James Blake (US) bt Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 6-2, 6-2; Shaughnessy/Blake (US) bt Dellacqua/Hewitt 6-3, 5-7, 10-6 (match tiebreak).

Slovak Republic bt Germany 3-0: Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) bt Sabine Lisicki (Germany) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) bt Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) 1-3, retired; Cibulkova/Hrbaty (Slovakia) bt Lisicki/Kiefer (Germany) 6-0, 6-0 (walkover).

Group B:

Russia bt France 2-1: Dinara Safina (Russia) bt Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-2; Gilles Simon (France) bt Marat Safin (Russia) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3; Safina/Safin (Russia) bt Cornet/Simon (France) 6-4, 6-3.

Italy bt Taiwan 3-0: Flavia Pennetta (Italy) bt Hsieh/Lu (Taiwan) 7-5, 6-3; Simone Bolelli (Italy) bt Lu Yen-Hsun (Taiwan) 6-0, 6-0 (walkover); Bolelli/Pennetta (Italy) bt Hsieh/Lu (Taiwan) 6-0, 6-0 (walkover).—Agencies