Tennis fans were in for a treat as Roger Federer made a winning comeback after a six-month injury layoff. The former world no. 1 won in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 against Dan Evans in the 2017 Hopman Cup in Perth. Federer needed little more than an hour to dispatch the British no. 3 in clinical fashion. The Swiss maestro showed little signs of rustiness in a match that he began with an ace. Federer, who has not won a Grand Slam since Wimbledon 2012, said: “It would be nice to win another one, of course I’d even take two, three, four.” Great Britain meanwhile, sorely missed the services of the recently knighted World no. 1 Andy Murray who opens his season at the Qatar Open in Doha.
Switzerland took an unassailable 2-0 lead after teenager Belinda Bencic defeated Heather Watson 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in the women’s singles. She then partnered Federer in the mixed doubles against Evans and Watson. The pair won 4-0, 4-1 via the newly-implemented Fast4 rule and gave the Swiss side a 3-0 cleansweep victory.
France win against Germany
The two teams are joined by France and Germany in Group A of the competition. Earlier, France won their tie against Germany 2-1. Richard Gasquet and Kristina Mladenovic won the deciding mixed doubles match versus Alexander Zverev and Andrea Petkovic 4-2, 4-1. Gasquet also won the singles fixture against Zverev to put France on level terms after Mladenovic lost her match against Petkovic.
France next take on Great Britain and Switzerland will face Germany in the next round of group fixtures. Australia, who are the defending champions, are joined in Group-B by Czech Republic, Spain and USA.
