Switzerland are Mastercard Hopman Cup champions for the third time after Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic combined to topple Team Germany\u2019s Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber 4-3(3) 4-2.<\/p>\n
Nineteen-time Grand Slam champion Federer, who lifted the trophy alongside Martina Hingis back in 2001, won all four of his singles contests, whilst a rejuvenated Bencic helped maintain an unbeaten Swiss record in the mixed doubles.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter all these years I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m here again,\u201d noted Federer. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely amazing. I\u2019ve lost count of the years, I\u2019m thrilled to win the Hopman Cup again with Belinda, it\u2019s been a pleasure to partner you this week, well done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier, Roger Federer outplayed Sascha Zverev 6-7(4) 6-0 6-2 to begin an enthralling final. The contest was levelled by Angelique Kerber defeating Bencic 6-4 6-1.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to congratulate Team Germany for making the final,\u201d said Bencic having lifted the trophy. \u201cYou played a great tournament and Angie was just too strong for me today. I\u2019m so glad we made it in the mixed this time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to Roger for playing with me. It really is a dream come true. I couldn\u2019t wish for a better partner,\u201d she added with a beaming smile. \u201cI\u2019ll never forget this week, it\u2019s been unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back on court in the mixed doubles Federer missed a volley on top of the net as a deciding point was chalked up on Bencic\u2019s serve, but the Swiss escaped when Kerber netted an angled forehand.<\/p>\n
It was a high-quality quartet and this time Germany had to stave off a deciding point. Zverev\u2019s sharp reactions secured the point as the set edged into a tiebreak.<\/p>\n
From 2-0 to the Germans, Switzerland reeled off four points in a row, including a blistering Bencic backhand return winner down the line and a flicked Federer volley winner from up high. The Swiss were half way to the trophy.<\/p>\n
Zverev smirked in disbelief when he rocketed a backhand at Bencic and the Swiss shut her eyes, but still managed to deflect the ball back in from the wobbling frame.<\/p>\n
However, Bencic\u2019s returning was particularly effective and enables Federer to pick off volleys at the net. The 20-year-old deflected a bullet backhand return winner, ahead of a trademark backhand winner from Federer to spark the pivotal break.<\/p>\n
Federer took to the baseline, held to love with an ace and it was simply Swiss bliss at Perth Arena.<\/p>\n
Despite the narrow defeat, Team Germany were in high spirits following a strong showing to ignite their 2018 and they would welcome a return to Perth next season.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirstly Sascha, thank you for playing with me. We had a great week on and off the court,\u201d said Kerber at the trophy presentation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the result we wished, but congrats to Belinda and Roger. You are a great team and really deserve to win the title.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zverev hopes that Federer can do him a favour in the future: \u201cOnce again Switzerland takes it all,\u201d joked the 20-year-old. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen this so many times, Roger relax a little bit, we want to win something as well. It makes us young guys look bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Written by Alex Sharp<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Switzerland are Mastercard Hopman Cup champions for the third time after Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic combined to topple Team Germany\u2019s Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber 4-3(3) 4-2. Nineteen-time Grand Slam champion Federer, who lifted the trophy alongside Martina Hingis back in 2001, won all four of his singles contests, whilst a rejuvenated Bencic helped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6100,"featured_media":12517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}