Serbia justify top seeding in Perth

Top seeds Serbia made a perfect start to their Hopman Cup campaign as they beat Kazakhstan 3-0 in Perth.

Ana Ivanovic beat Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6 (8/6) 6-1 before world number three Novak Djokovic came from a set down to run out a 4-6 6-3 6-1 winner over Andrey Golubev.

The pair then teamed up in the mixed doubles for a 7-6 (7/2) 6-4 win to claim a clean sweep, perfect preparation for their upcoming ties against Australia and Belgium.

Ivanovic told www.hopmancup.com: “It was just good to go out there, keep moving and have that pressure of a match again.

“In the second set it was good and I was being a lot more aggressive, but in the first set I was very passive and playing lots of balls short. I tried to change that in the second set and it got better.”

In the men’s singles, Golubev broke serve in the 10th game to win the opening set 6-4.

However, Djokovic was unstoppable in the next two sets, racing to a 5-1 lead in the second before taking it 6-3 and then dominating the third 6-1.

Djokovic said: “I don’t want to find any excuses, but we got here just two days ago and it’s very hard to get used to the time change and the conditions here.

“All in all I’m just happy to not embarrass Ana and bring her one point because she is playing really great.

“I was just trying because I wanted to make her happy. We have known each other since we were five and we played all the junior events that you can imagine, and we have a great relationship.

“She’s the nicest girl I know in tennis and for me she’s the best in the world.”