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Tennis
Belgium bounces back despite Clijsters defeat
PERTH, JAN. 1. Belgium bounced back, after World No. 5 Kim Clijsters was shocked by Francesca Schiavone, to win the men's and mixed doubles tie against Italy in the eight-nation Hopman Cup tennis tournament at Burswood Dome here on Tuesday.
The fourth-seeded Belgian pair of Kim Clijsters and Xavier Malisse won the doubles, beating Francesca Schiavone and Davide Sanguinetti 6-3, 6-4 to clinch the tie 2-1 after being given an early fright. Clijsters crashed to defeat by 31st-ranked Francesca Schiavone, 21, 6-4, 6-4 in 83 minutes.
But Malisse revived Belgium's hopes on the third day of the $1 million mixed teams tournament. The 35th-ranked Belgian beat 86th-ranked Davide Sanguinetti 6-4, 7-5 in 84 minutes in the men's singles to take it all squares.Italy qualified by beating Greece in a play-off on Saturday.
Clijsters left the glitzy Hopman Cup New ear's eve ball early on Monday night to prepare for her opening match in the mixed team event but looked out of sorts on the quick, indoor court.
Both players struggled to hold serve throughout the match - Clijsters was broken seven times in total - and the Belgian's groundstrokes were miss-firing badly.
Schiavone won the opening set - her first against the 18-year-old - with a searing ace on her first set point. Watched by boyfriend and men's World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, Clijsters mounted a spirited comeback in the second set but still struggled to hold serve.
The 31st-ranked Schiavone bounced back from 3-1 down in the second set with three breaks of serve before serving out for victory.
Spain takes lead
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario out-classed 19- year-old Miroslava Vavrinec 6-2, 6-0 to give Spain a 1-0 lead against Switzerland. The 30-year-old routed 119th-ranked Vavrinec throughout the 50-minutes match in which the Swiss player failed to hold her serve once.
The results:
Belgium bt Italy 2-1. Xavier Malisse bt Davide Sanguinetti 6-4, 7-5; Francesca Schiavone bt Kim Clijsters 6-4, 6-4; Xavier Malisse/Kim Clijsters bt Davide Sanguinetti/Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-4. - AFP
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