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Down Under Safin leads Russia into season-opening Hopman Cup
PERTH, Australia (Ticker) -- Marat Safin will try to lead Russia to the Hopman Cup crown in his country's debut at this $1 million mixed team tennis tournament, which begins Saturday (Friday night in the United States). Safin came within one match of finishing 2000 as the No. 1 player in the world. Needing to finish unbeaten in round-robin play or reach the final at the Tennis Masters Cup in Lisbon to become the top-ranked player, he fell to Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi in consecutive matches. Still, Safin had an extraordinary season. After losing his first five ATP matches of the year and getting fined for tanking at the Australian Open, he took on former player Andrei Chesnokov as his coach and captured consecutive events in Barcelona and Mallorca. The 20-year-old Safin had another former Russian player, Alexander Volkov, at his side when he won his first Tennis Masters Series title at Toronto and captured his initial Grand Slam crown at the U.S. Open. He finished with a tour-best seven titles. Safin will team with Australian Open quarterfinalist Elena Likhovtseva as Russia will compete in this event for the first time, although the Soviet Union and Commonwealth of Independent States participated in Hopman Cups II, III and IV. Russia, the second seed, finds out its first round-robin opponents Saturday when Belgium takes on Japan in the play-in tie. Belgium will be represented by Olivier Rochus and Kim Clijsters. Rochus won his first career title in October at the International Championship of Sicily at Palermo. Clijsters finished the season ranked No. 18 after claiming tournaments at Hobart, Australia and Leipzig, Germany. She also reached the final at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix at Filderstadt, where she lost to top-ranked Martina Hingis. Ai Sugiyama, the No. 1 women's doubles player, and Takao Suzuki comprise the Japanese squad. Martina Hingis is back at the Hopman Cup for a fourth time. She pairs with Roger Federer for top-seeded Switzerland. Hingis is 10-0 in the Hopman Cup and teamed with Marc Rosset to reach the final in 1996. However, they lost to Croatia in the final when Rosset had to retire with the score tied 5-5 in the third set of the deciding mixed doubles match. He thumped the backboard in frustration and broke a bone. Hingis was the year-end No. 1 player last season after winning a WTA Tour-best nine titles. However, she went without a Grand Slam crown for the first time since 1996 and is sure to be eager to rectify that situation at the Australian Open. The 19-year-old Federer came close to winning his first tournament in 2000, stretching Rosset and Thomas Enqvist to the limit in finals at Marseille and Basel, respectively. Defending champion South Africa is seeded fourth and will be represented by Amanda Coetzer and Wayne Ferreira. The South Africans are in Group A along with Switzerland, Australia, and Thailand. Australia will be without hard-serving Mark Philippoussis, who is out of action at least two months after suffering a slight tear in the lateral meniscus of his left knee. Nicole Pratt will be Australia's female participant, with a teammate to be determined. Russia, the third-seeded United States team of Monica Seles and Jan-Michael Gambill, and 1999 champion Slovakia are in Group B. Slovakia will be comprised of Dominik Hrbaty and Karina Habsudova. The Hopman Cup is one of several warmup events before the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year.
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