By IANS
Perth : Serena Williams and Mardy Fish powered the US to its fifth Hopman Cup title with a 7-6, 6-2 win over Serbian duo of Jelena Jankovic and Novak Djokovic in the deciding mixed doubles tie of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) team championship here.
The US won the final 2-1 Friday. For Williams it is her second Hopman Cup victory here. She previously won the championship in 2003 with James Blake, while it was Fish’s first win in his second appearance.
It was a disappointing start to the final for top seed Serbia as an upper right leg injury forced Jankovic to pull out of the women’s singles match, thereby handing over a 1-0 lead to the US.
But Djokovic levelled the score for Serbia with a marathon three-set win over Fish 6-2, 6-7, 6-7 in the men’s singles tie.
However in the deciding mixed doubles match, the Americans’ proved be too strong for the Jankovic-Djokovic duo as after being down 4-1 in the opening set, the Serena-Fish pair came back strongly to clinch the match and the title 7-6. 6-2.
“The Serbian team really deserve a big round of applause because they were both fighting with injury,” said Williams after the victory.