PERTH, Australia (AP)—Igor Andreev and Elena Dementieva won their mixed doubles match over Germany to give Russia a 2-1 victory Monday at the Hopman Cup.
Andreev and Dementieva beat Germany's Sabine Lisicki and Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 7-6 (7) in the deciding mixed doubles in their opening match at the eight-country tournament.
Lisicki beat Dementieva 6-4, 6-1 to give Germany an early 1-0 lead at the Burwood Dome, before Andreev beat Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3 to level the match.
Britain, led by No. 4 Andy Murray, played Kazakhstan in another Group B match later Monday.
It was Andreev's eighth career win over Kohlschreiber.
I don't know, maybe it's the kind of style of his play that is more comfortable for me,'' Andreev said.Hopefully it continues like this with Philipp. It was a really tough match for both of us. We played some good points and I'm really happy to start the year with victory.''
Dementieva was outplayed by Lisicki and wasn't helped by her 10 double faults.
I've been working really hard in the last few weeks in the offseason, so I'm really happy to win that match,'' Lisicki said.I want to get higher in the rankings. I did a great job last year so I'm looking forward to this year.''
Dementieva struggled to counter Lisicki's return of serve and the German said that part of her game had been a big focus recently.
I've been working on it and it's getting better and better,'' she said.It's great to have a weapon like that.''
Spain and Romania are 1-0 in Group A after winning their opening matches against the United States and Australia over the weekend. The top teams in each group play in Saturday's final.
In matches Tuesday, the U.S. takes on Australia and Spain plays Romania.