SWITZERLAND have a chance in Perth today to win the $510,000 Hopman Cup mixed teams tennis tournament for the second time.
Martina Hingis and Marc Rosset earned a showdown with the top seeded Croatian pair, Goran Ivanisevic and Iva Majoli by putting out the reigning champions Germany last night.
The Swiss pair crushed Martin Sinner and Anke Huber, winning their singles clashes before completing a clean sweep in the mixed doubles.
Hingis, 15, beat 21 year old Huber, previously unbeaten in the tournament, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 in 78 minutes. And Rosset proved far too good for Sinner, winning 6-2, 6-4 in 58 minutes. Then the Swiss pair took the mixed doubles 6-1, 6-3.
Hingis came back in stunning fashion against Huber after trailing 0-4 in the opening set.
Rosset, like Hingis, completed his third win of the tournament by defeating Sinner.
He said that Ivanisevic, who has beaten him eight times in 10 meetings, would be a difficult opponent. "I cannot say he is the guy I really would like to play, but if I can keep my serve and try to go to the tie break against him, you never know. I have a chance even if he has beaten me more. I'm pretty confident."
Switzerland had their first Hopman Cup triumph four years ago when Manuela Maleeva Fragniere and Jakob Hlasek beat Czechoslovakia 2-1 in the final.
. Russian top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov defused the big serve of Britain's Greg Rusedski to move into the semi finals of the Australian hardcourt championship in Adelaide yesterday. World number six Kafelnikov, bidding for his second title, beat seventh seed Rusedski 6-3, 6-3 and will meet Argentina's Javier Frana in the semi final today.
In the other semi final, Zimbabwean Byron Black will play Czech Martin Damm. Black continued his march towards his first ATP singles final by knocking out second seed Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic 7-6 (9/7), 6-7 (7/5), 6-4. Damm was gifted a semi final berth after his quarter final opponent, Sweden's Henrik Holni, retired in the second set complaining of problems with his troublesome right shoulder.
