Dec 28: A fascinating tussle is on the cards, as India will take on United States to begin their Hopman Cup campaign. Former champions and second seeds United States come into the 20th edition of the tournament without Serena Williams.
The Indian team of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna will start their mixed team event from tomorrow women’s singles at the Perth’s Burswood Dome.
The Americans come into the Hopman Cup as the second seeds, but with current Australian Open champion Serena Williams not well enough to take her place in the opening session.
Williams is trying to recover from a lingering left-knee injury that forced her to pull out of the WTA Tour's season-ending championships in Madrid in November. She is being substituted by Meghann Shaughnessy for Saturday’s matches with India, but will arrive in time to face the Czech Republic on Monday.
According to the Tournament officials, Williams will not arrive in the Western Australia state capital until the weekend, and plans to play for the Americans in Monday's match against the Czech Republic. Player substitutions are allowed between matches.
Shaughnessy, ranked 53 in the world and a well-credentialed doubles competitor. She is also no stranger to the Hopman Cup, appearing in 2005 alongside James Blake in which the Americans were also the second seeds and finished second in Group B.
Shaughnessy will take on Indian sensation Sania Mirza. Mirza and Rohan Bopanna have returned after earning their place in the tournament through the Asian Hopman Cup last year.
Tournament Director Paul McNamee is relieved that Williams will be arriving in time to play on Monday, and is comfortable that the substitution rule has worked well.
“It was a shame Serena couldn’t be here but if we didn’t have a substitution rule, we would have lost her for the whole tournament. It’s great that Meghann Shaughnessy is coming. She’ll play the first match and Serena continues from there.”
It is the third meeting on the WTA tour between Shaughnessy and Mirza, with the American leading 2-1. Mirza won the first battle in 2006 at San Diego, before Shaughnessy was victorious the same year in Bangkok and this year in Istanbul.
Bopanna and America’s male representative, Mardy Fish were both at the Cup last year, but did not face each other and this will be their first ever meeting on the ATP tour.
Fish made a tremendous start to 2007 by winning two of his three matches in the Burswood Dome and then making the semi-final in Auckland and quarter-finals at the Australian Open.
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