Australia eliminated after second defeat in a row

Hosts Australia were eliminated from the Hopman Cup in Perth after losing their second successive round-robin tie yesterday.

After going down to Germany in their opening encounter on Monday, Lleyton Hewitt and Casey Dellacqua had to win yesterday's Group A showdown with Slovakia but instead lost the tie 2-1 after emerging second best in the doubles.

Dominika Cibulkova had shunted aside Dellacqua 7-5 6-2 but former world number one Hewitt levelled the contest when he trumped Dominik Hrbaty 7-6 6-7 6-4 in a three-hour battle.

However, the Australian duo ran out of steam in the doubles and lost 6-7 6-3 7-6 (10-4 match tie-break).

Despite the result, Hewitt remained upbeat about his Australian Open prospects.

"This is what you need going into the Australian Open," said Hewitt, who is on a comeback trail after undergoing hip surgery last year.

"This is obviously what tests it (my hip) and being able to back up day after day."

Slovakia now lead the group after winning both of their ties and are in pole position to contest Friday's final.

Group B remained wide open after Flavia Pennetta and Simone Bolelli joined forces to steer Italy to a 2-1 win over France.

France won the opening rubber when Alize Cornet beat Pennetta 7-5 6-2 but Bolelli squared the tie at 1-1 with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Gilles Simon, his first win against a player ranked in the world's top 10.

The Italians then teamed up to win the deciding mixed doubles encounter 6-4 7-6 to remain in contention for a place in the final after their loss to Russia on Sunday.

"I think I played almost perfectly today," Bolelli said in a courtside interview.

France stayed in the race to reach the final thanks to their victory over Taiwan earlier in the competition.

"Congratulations to the Italians. They were really good today," Cornet said.

"We're disappointed of course but it's okay, we still have our chance to go in finals so we will try our best in two days."

The winners of the two groups will contest Friday's final.

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic was thrown a lifeline to continue his preparations for his Australian Open defence after he was knocked out of the Brisbane International yesterday.

The world number three was facing the prospect of going into the first grand slam of 2009, starting in Melbourne on Jan. 19, with only one match under his belt this year following his shock 6-4 6-4 first round loss to his former training partner, Ernests Gulbis of Latvia.

However, organisers of the Sydney International, starting on Sunday, granted the Serbian a wildcard entry. It will allow him to get some vital practice matches in before the Open.

"I'm very grateful to receive the wildcard to Sydney," Djokovic said in a statement.

"It was disappointing to lose in Brisbane but I now have another chance for more high quality matches in Sydney."

Sydney International tournament director Craig Watson said he had no hesitation in extending help to Djokovic.

"We certainly understand that he will be looking for matches leading up to the Open and with that we are happy to be in a position to provide Novak with a wildcard," Watson said.

Qatar Open: Murray bt Montanes 6-2 6-4; Nadal vs Santoro 6-0 6-1; Federer bt Starace 6-2 6-2.