PERTH, Australia (AP) American Bethanie Mattek-Sands upset Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-4 at the Hopman Cup on Wednesday to record her first win over a top 10 opponent and help the United States beat Italy 2-1.
John Isner gave the U.S. a 2-0 lead, edging Potito Starace 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4. But Italy denied the U.S. a second clean sweep at the Hopman Cup, as Schiavone and Starace pulled off a surprising 6-7 (5), 6-2, 10-3 tiebreaker victory in the mixed doubles.
In the day's second matchup, France ended Britain's hopes of reaching the final by winning the deciding doubles match 6-4, 6-2.
Kristina Mladenovic defeated fellow teenager Laura Robson 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 to give France a 1-0 lead but Andy Murray's 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) win over Nicolas Mahut leveled the score.
Mladenovic and Mahut won in doubles to maintain their hopes of reaching Saturday's final.
The United States is in control to qualify from Group B after shutting out France in its opener. France and Italy have one win each and meet in Friday's final group matches.
Dressed head-to-toe in black, Mattek-Sands wasted little time in applying pressure to the French Open champion Schiavone, breaking to go ahead 3-2 in the opening set and maintaining her lead the rest of the way.
Schiavone struggled on another humid day in Perth, falling a break behind at the start of the second set. She broke back, but it was merely delaying the inevitable as Mattek-Sands broke again to complete the victory.
That was my goal going into this match - to get into the net before she did,'' Mattek-Sands said.She's an aggressive player and I was just trying to take her high balls early and not get myself behind the baseline too far.
``I worked pretty hard in the offseason for my fitness. I had to hang in with Francesca. She's a great player. That last game, I mean, I was running from side to side. It was a great match.''
Starace was the first to break in the men's match, with the lanky Isner losing his serve for the first time in the tournament at 3-3 in the opening set. But the American broke right back, and the set went into a tiebreaker.
Starace refused to go away, staying on serve and breaking Isner at a crucial juncture to win the second set.
As both men were drained by heat, Starace appeared on the verge of an upset when he broke Isner's serve again to lead 3-1. But the American broke back, then broke again to take the set and the match with his 23rd ace.
I needed some air conditioning out here today,'' Isner said.When I got broken in the third that freed me up a bit, I started going for my shots a little more, that helped me out. I lost my serve three times - it doesn't happen that often, but I'd rather win the match like this than lose one where I didn't lose my serve.''
Mahut, who will compete in the qualifying event at the Australian Open next week, broke serve right away against the No. 4-ranked Murray.
But the Frenchman could not hold on to his advantage and Murray came through in two tiebreakers.
It was an exciting match,'' Murray said.I think any time there's a big contrast in styles - he likes to serve and volley, I was hitting a lot of passing shots - it was a fun match. I grew up playing my brother who always serve-and-volleyed against me, so I was used to it from a young age.''
Murray is using the tournament as preparation for the Australian Open, where he reached the final last year, but he will have only one more singles match - probably against Isner - in Friday's final group matches.
Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova, who was forced to withdraw from the Hopman Cup on Monday after injuring her knee against Ana Ivanovic, confirmed she had torn her meniscus and would require surgery that would probably result in her missing the Australian Open.