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Robredo wraps up victory for Spain

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PERTH, Australia -- Tommy Robredo came from a set down to beat Mario Ancic and give Spain an unassailable 2-0 lead in their Hopman Cup match against Croatia at the Burswood Dome in Perth on Monday.

After Anabel Medina Garrigues gave Spain the lead with a two-set win over Mario's younger sister Sanja, world number seven Robredo recovered to win the match between the two highest-ranked men in the mixed team competition 3-6 7-5 6-3.

A single break was enough for Ancic to claim the opening set but Robredo battled back and leveled the match with a stooping volley to break the world number nine in the 12th game of the second.

An increasingly confident Robredo made the crucial break in the sixth game of the decider before wrapping up victory in two hours and four minutes

World number 27 Medina Garrigues used her superior mobility and court speed to see off the 18-year-old Ancic 6-3 6-1.

"It's difficult for me to play in front of all these people, it's a lot of pressure," Medina Garrigues said in a courtside interview.

"I've only played before this many people maybe four or five times. But this is good for me, it will improve my tennis."

Baghdatis through

Third seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus defeated German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4 7-5 to move into the second round of the $1 million Qatar Open in Doha.

Fourth seed Briton Andy Murray, fifth seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and sixth seed Robin Soderling of Sweden also progressed into the second round.

Murray, who lost the first set, rallied to beat Italian Filippo Volandri 4-6 6-2 6-4, while Youzhny edged past Daniele Bracciali of Italy 7-5 6-3. Soderling posted a fluent 6-3 6-3 win over Belgium's Kristof Vliegen.

Belgian Christophe Rochus, a 6-4 7-5 winner over Spaniard Alberto Martin, and Spain's Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, who defeated local player Sultan Khalfan 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 also moved into the second round.

More than his opponent, it was the chilly and windy conditions that troubled Baghdatis in his season-opening match on the Khalifa Tennis Complex centre court.

The 21-year-old Cypriot struggled to find his rhythm and failed to get his first serve in on many occasions during the match.

"It was very windy and cold out there," said the 2006 Australian Open runner-up.

"I haven't played any competitive matches for more than two months. With the weather turning unfriendly I had some difficulty in finding my rhythm," the Cypriot added.

Luczak stunner

Australian wildcard Peter Luczak continued his fine run of form with a straight-sets upset victory of fifth-seeded Slovak Dominik Hrbaty at the Adelaide International.

In the tournament trialling the ATP's new 32-player hybrid round-robin format, Luczak recovered from a 5-2 deficit in the first set to prevail 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 and move closer to a place in the quarterfinals.

Luczak beat Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello in the elimination round on Sunday to earn his place in one of the eight three-player pools, and he plays his second and final group match against American Paul Goldstein on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old saved a set point at 5-3 when a mishit forehand dropped just inside the baseline and also recovered from 6-4 down in the tie-break to take the opener on his first set point.

Hrbaty, the world number 21 and a finalist at last year's Paris Masters, struggled to fight back in the second, hitting six double faults as Luczak eased to victory.

The Polish-born world number 166 said he thought the new competition format helped him relax.

"The pressure was off me and I could go out there and enjoy it," he told reporters.

France's Florent Serra made a solid start to the defense of his title with a 2-6 6-3 6-4 victory over Joachim Johansson, the Swedish former world number nine who has slipped down to 193 after a 2006 dogged by shoulder and elbow injuries.

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