PERTH, Jan 2: The Netherlands claimed an upset victory over second seeded Argentina in round robin play at the Hopman Cup on Monday after the qualifiers won both singles matches to take an unassailable 2-0 lead ahead of the doubles.

Argentina’s Gisela Dulko, who lost all four of her singles matches at last year’s event, continued her poor run of form in the mixed team tournament with a 6-4 6-2 defeat against Michaella Krajicek.

Peter Wessels then sealed victory by outplaying a lethargic Gaston Gaudio 6-2 7-6.

Dulko made 39 unforced errors and struggled throughout the second set after letting the first set slip away.

Both players had chances to sneak an early break as the tightly-contested first four games took 23 minutes to complete.

However, after Dulko made a forehand error on a break point that would have given her a 5-3 lead, she failed to convert a similar shot to drop her own serve in the next game handing Krajicek a 5-4 lead.

The Dutchwoman served out the opening set and a disappointed Dulko made a poor start to the second, double-faulting on the first point and dropping her serve when Krajicek pounded a crosscourt winner from the baseline.

A fourth double-fault gave Krajicek another break for 5-2 and the 16-year-old served out to love and claimed victory with her seventh ace.

Gaudio could make little impact against the huge Wessels serve and he was also frustrated by being foot-faulted on seven occasions.

Wessels, who fired eight aces, was also better at chasing down the half-chances and fully deserved his first victory over a top 10 opponent in over four years.

Once he had held off three break points in the opening game, Wessels settled and broke for 3-1 with a fine backhand drive down the line. A second break, to love, secured the set.

Gaudio also failed to make any real impact in the second set, and a foot-fault left him facing match point at 5-4.

He saved that with a well-timed backhand volley, but surrendered a 3-1 lead in the tiebreak, losing it 7-5 as Wessels claimed victory.

Results:

Thomas Johansson (Sweden) bt Novak Djokovic (Serbia and Montenegro)

7-6(4) 7-6(3); Ana Ivanovic (Serbia and Montenegro) bt Sofia Arvidsson (Sweden) 6-3 6-1; Peter Wessels (Netherlands) bt Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) 6-2 7-6(5); Michaella Krajicek (Netherlands) bt Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 6-4 6-2.

Group A

Serbia and Montenegro bt Sweden 2-1

Women’s singles: Ana Ivanovic (SCG) bt Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 6-3, 6-1.

Men’s singles: Thomas Johansson (SWE) bt Novak Djokovic (SCG) 7-6 (7/4). 7-6 (7/3).

Mixed doubles: Djokovic/Ivanovic (SCG) bt Johansson/Arvidsson (SWE) 6-2, 6-4.

Ancic advances

MELBOURNE: Croatia’s Mario Ancic ensured the three seeds appearing at the Australian hardcourt championships in Adelaide on Monday advanced to the second round.

Ancic, who won the decisive fifth rubber in last month’s Davis Cup final against Slovakia, comfortably accounted for 2001 Australian Open finalist Arnaud Clement 6-0 6-2 to join fellow seeds Tomas Berdych and Tommy Robredo in progressing.

The sixth-seeded Berdych, who has spent most of the off-season preparing indoors, scratcged out a 6-4 6-7 6-4 victory over Argentina’s Agustin Calleri, while Spain’s third seeded Tommy Robredo beat Austria’s Juergen Melzer 7-5 6-4.

Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Australian wild card Chris Guccione 6-4 6-3 at Memorial Drive, while Belgium’s Xavier Malisse overcame Australia’s Peter Luczak 7-6 6-3 and will meet Ancic in the second round.

World number four Lleyton Hewitt, the top seed in his home town tournament, plays Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic on Tuesday, while former world number nine Mark Philippoussis meets Vincent Spadea of the United States, also on Tuesday.

Results:

Round 1: Tomas Berdych (CZE) bt Agustin Calleri (ARG) 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4; Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) bt Chris Guccione (AUS) 6-4, 6-3; Xavier Malisse (BEL) bt Peter Luczak (AUS) 7-6 (13/11), 6-3 Tommy Robredo (ESP) bt Jurgen Melzer (AUT) 7-5, 6-4; Maro Ancic (CRO) bt Arnaud Clement (FRA) 6-0, 6-2.

Women’s results

GOLD COAST: Results from the Mondial Australian women’s Hardcourts Women’s Singles Round 1 matches on Monday.

Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) bt Virginie Razzano (France) 6-2 7-6(2); Flavia Pennetta (Italy) bt Ekaterina Bychkova (Russia) 6-2 6-4; Nuria Llagostera (Spain) bt Tiantian Sun (China) 2-6 6-2 6-4; Angela Haynes (United States) bt Karolina Sprem (Croatia) 2-6 6-0 7-5; 8-Anabel Medina (Spain) bt Ahsha Rolle (United States) 6-3 6-3; Martina Hingis (Switzerland) bt Maria Vento-Kabchi (Venezuela) 6-2 6-1; Jarmila Gajdosova (Slovakia) bt Tathiana Garbin (Italy) 5-7 6-4 6-2; Sybille Bammer (Austria) bt Katerina Boehmova (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-1; Francesca Schiavone (Italy) bt Meng Yuan (China) 6-2 6-3; Dinara Safina (Russia) bt Evgenia Linetskaya (Russia) 7-6(0) 6-0; Tatiana Golovin (France) bt Nicole Pratt (Australia) 7-5 6-2.

Auckland Classic

AUCKLAND: Results of matches at the Auckland Classic women’s tennis tournament here Monday: