Paris (AFP) – Canada won the Hopman Cup for the first time when Bianca Andreescu and Felix Auger-Aliassime teamed up to beat Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti and Flavio Cobolli in Sunday’s final at Bari. With Andreescu and Cobolli winning the two singles matches, the tie came down to the doubles, which the Canadians took 6-3, 6-3.
Both sides were appearing in their first ever finals, but it was the Canadians who made the perfect start when Andreescu dispatched Bronzetti in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Currently ranked 185 in the world, Andreescu is 121 places lower than the Italian, but the 25-year-old once held the number four spot and won the 2019 US Open. Her enduring class was too much for Bronzetti in their first ever meeting.
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That meant Cobolli had to win against Auger-Aliassime to keep Italy in the hunt for the title. Their two previous meetings, both in 2024, were shared one apiece and there was little to separate them in the rankings, with Cobolli at 19 and Auger-Aliassime at 28. The Canadian edged the first set, taking the tiebreak 9-7, but Wimbledon quarter-finalist Cobolli got the all-important break in the second to take it 7-5 and nudge the match into a third set tie-breaker, which he took 10-8.
© 2024 AFP
