Berdych and Kvitová take cup

Tennis stars Petra Kvitová and Tomáš Berdych won the Hopman Cup after defeating French duo Marion Bartoli and Richard Gasquet two sets to none Jan. 7.

"It's really good to win at the beginning of the year, and of course I have to say thank you to Tomáš because without him we wouldn't have won," Kvitová said.

Kvitová had a remarkable 2011 after winning her first Grand Slam, and she maintains her form as 2012 begins. The world's No. 2 won all of her singles matches, which included a morale-boosting victory over Dane Caroline Wozniacki.

Most tennis pundits are anticipating Kvitová will continue to improve and surpass Wozniacki as the world No. 1, but, for the moment, the 21-year-old Czech is just concentrating on playing good tennis and winning matches on court.

"Last season was longer than normal. I've had some rest, so hopefully I'm ready to play matches and we will see how it goes," Kvitová said. "I'm not fighting against Caroline, who is in the first spot."

The Czech pair of Kvitová and Berdych were ranked as the competition's top seeds and made light work of their opponents en route to the final. Bulgaria, Denmark and the United States were drawn alongside the Czechs in Group A. This left France, Spain, Australia and China to battle it out in Group B. The winners of each group then met in the finals.

Kvitová took to the court first to face the Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova and wasted no time in getting the Czechs their first points on the board. Pironkova was dispatched in straight sets (6-4, 6-2), and Berdych soon followed suit by beating the dangerous Grigor Dimitrov in three sets (6-4, 6-7, 6-3).

Victories in the opening singles games gave the Czech duo confidence before they took to the court in the mixed doubles, which they unexpectedly lost to the Bulgarians. The Czech pair soon put the disappointment of the mixed doubles defeat behind them as they whitewashed the American duo of Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Mardy Fish in straight sets.

Denmark and Caroline Wozniacki were up next for Petra Kvitová and the packed stadium in Perth wasn't left disappointed after a scintillating display from both players. Kvitová prevailed after two and a half hours, beating her rival 7-6, 3-6, 6-4.

The narrative for the season ahead looks to be dominated by these two players as the battle for the top ranking begins when the Australian Open gets under way later this month.

Berdych carried on the Czech's winning streak by beating Frederik Neilsen (6-4, 6-1) to book their place in the final against the French duo.

The world No. 9 and the top-ranked Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli looked on course to take the first set against Kvitová as she raced into a 5-3 lead, but the Czech showed impressive power and nerve to win the next four games and take the set 7-5. Brimming with confidence and her opponent seemingly beaten, Kvitová cruised to victory, taking the second set 6-1.

Berdych secured the Hopman Cup as he won a tight match against Richard Gasquet (7-5, 6-4), which meant the mixed-doubles match was largely an exhibition.

"It couldn't have been better. It was an extremely great week, and first of all I need to congratulate my partner," Berdych said. "She won all she could, and I just added some winnings now and again so we can be standing here and have such a nice trophy."

This is the second time the Czechs have won the Hopman Cup after Jana Novotná and Petr Korda were triumphant in 1994.

"I'm really enjoying my new role in the team; I'm not the leader which I was for many, many years," Berdych said "Now it's a little bit more on Petra; she is the leader now, but it's going to be fine, we're going to try to enjoy it."

Mark Smith can be reached at
features@praguepost.com