Elina Svitolina and Alexandr Dolgopolov rounded off a perfect group stage of three wins from three encounters, and thus booked their tickets for the 2016 Hopman Cup final, after defeating Australia Gold 2-1.
Just like in the other two ties, Dolgopolov and Svitolina won their singles matches and fell in the mixed doubles. Svitolina defeated Wolfe 6-3, 6-3 and Dolgopolov showed grit to come back from a set down and upset the crowd by defeating local favourite Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The former world number one who is on a farewell tour before hanging up his racket at the Australian Open went down as he always does: fighting. “It was another good hit out today. I felt in patched I played really good tennis today. I’ve never played Alexandr before and he’s a tough guy to really get a read on. He plays so many funky shots out there“, said Hewitt.
It will be an emotional moment once the two-time Grand Slam champion says goodbye for good but, judging by his words, it’s going to take a real scrap to defeat the Adelaide born player in Melbourne: “The big picture is obviously the Australian Open. That’s where I want to be playing my best tennis, and this week has been the perfect preparation for that. I still feel like I can match it with the best guys in the world out there”.
For Ukraine it will be a first final apperance in the Hopman Cup since 1994 when Andrei Medvedev and his sister Natalia Medvedeva lost to the German duo of Boris Becker and Anke Huber. For Dolgopolov it “means a lot (to represent my country). I get a little bit more nervous than I do on my own tournaments on the ATP Tour. The whole country is watching so it is important”.
