Germany ends U.S. title hopes at Hopman Cup

Jan 7, 2009 - 4:49 PM PERTH, Australia (Ticker) -- The United States' bid for a second straight Hopman Cup title came to a crashing halt.

Germany defeated the top-seeded U.S. during the seventh session of the dual-gender international team event on Wednesday.

Having suffered a surprising 3-0 loss to Slovakia in their opening contest, the American duo of Meghann Shaughnessy and James Blake needed a win on Wednesday to have any chance of advancing to the final.

Sabine Lisicki gave Germany (2-0) the lead by rallying for a 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 victory over Shaughnessy in the opening rubber. But world No. 10 Blake leveled things for the Americans with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (7-9), 6-4 triumph over Nicolas Kiefer.

Lisicki and Kiefer then teamed to capture the decisive mixed doubles match, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7), sealing the upset and dropping the U.S. to 0-2 for the event and into last place in Group A.

Germany will face the Slovak Republic (2-0) on Thursday in a clash that will determine the Group A winner.

The Russian brother-sister tandem of Marat Safin and Dinara Safina moved a step closer to wrapping up Group B with a 2-1 victory over Chinese Taipei (0-2).

The only unbeaten team team remaining in the group, Russia (2-0) can advance to Friday's championship with a victory over France (1-1) on Thursday.

The Russians had Wednesday's best-of-three tie sewn up prior to mixed doubles as Safina rallied for a 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over Hsieh Su-Wei in the first singles rubber, and then watched her older brother close things out with a 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 defeat of Yen-Hsun Lu.

Safin, who has announced that 2009 is his final year on the ATP Tour, also beat Italy's Simone Bolelli in straight-sets earlier this week.

"I didn't have any expectations coming here because I only had two weeks of practice after not touching a racquet for two months," said Safin, who tunes 29 later this month. "I didn't even expect to win a set, so to win two matches is a bonus and it's an impressive performance so far"