• Hopman Cup

Britain out of Hopman Cup running after doubles failure

Laura Robson has much to work on with new coach Patrick Mouratoglou © Getty Images

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• Match report: Murray and Robson fall to Italy
  

Great Britain's hopes of reaching the Hopman Cup final for the second consecutive year were dashed when Andy Murray and Laura Robson lost their decisive doubles match against Nicolas Mahut and Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-4 6-2.

Earlier, Robson had lost her Group B rubber against Mladenovic 4-6 6-3 0-6, but Murray kept Great Britain's Hopman Cup hopes alive by levelling the match with France at 1-1 after battling past Mahut 7-6(3) 7-6(5).

Robson, who recently acquired the services of Patrick Mouratoglou as her new coach, struggled to cope with her opponent's power and, having fought back to win the second set, she was blown away by Mladenovic in the decider.

Murray lost his serve in the opening game of the match but showed his powers of recovery to force a tiebreak. After Murray pinched the first set, the match continued to ebb and flow, with Mahut preferring to serve and volley while Murray chose to wait for his chances to counter-attack.

"There was a big contrast in styles with his serve and volley setting up a lot of passing shots and short sharp rallies, but it was a really, really fun match," Murray said on Hopmancup.com.

"I love it, I wish more guys would play serve and volley, I grew up playing my brother (Jamie) who would always serve and volley against us, so I got used to it from a young age. But I've played Nicolas a few times, they've always been tough matches, but I was lucky to come through.

"The first set he obviously got ahead early and then I managed to get back into the second set. I went ahead and he managed to get back into it, so there was a lot of momentum shifts in the match which is good for the start of the year and it was an exciting match."

John Isner and Bethanie Mattek-Sands ensured USA moved a step closer to the final, beating Italy 2-1. Having already hammered France 3-0, the American duo head into their final round-robin match against Great Britain full of confidence, with a doubles defeat to Potito Starace and Francesca Schiavone the only blemish on an otherwise perfect record.

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