Williams and Blake shake off rustiness with show of power to eliminate Spain

Serena Williams and James Blake won their singles matches, and then combined to win a doubles match yesterday to lead the United States to a 3–0 victory over Spain in the Hopman Cup.

Williams opened the new year with a 6–3, 6–3 win over Virginia Ruano Pascual and Blake beat Tommy Robredo 6–3, 6–0. Williams and Blake then combined for a 6–1, 6–4 win in mixed doubles to end defending champion Spain's chances of making the finals.

The Czech Republic edged Italy 2–1 to force a top–of–the–table Group B match against Australia.

Jiri Novak beat Italy's Davide Sanguinetti 6–7 (10), 7–5, 7–5 to set up a deciding mixed doubles encounter after Silvia Farina–Elia had defeated Daja Bedanova 6–4, 2–6, 6–2 to give the Italians a 1–0 advantage.

Novak failed to convert on six set points before losing the first tie-breaker before he rallied to avoid an upset in the 2 hour–24 minute match.

The world No 7 then teamed with Bedanova to win the doubles 6–3, 6–3, with the last seven games of the second set going against serve.

Australia and the Czech Republic, both 2–0, will meet today.

The Americans play Belgium on Friday, with the winner likely to represent Group A in Saturday's final. The match will also see a replay of the WTA Championships final in which Kim Clijsters of Belgium beat Williams in Los Angeles.

That was Clijsters' first win over Williams in six attempts.

"I've been looking forward to that (match) since I came here," Williams said. "Last time I played I was so tired, had no energy. But she's (Clijsters') playing great and it's good to see her doing so well. She is such a nice girl."

Williams said she was exhausted in Los Angeles after winning eight of 13 tournaments, including the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open on the way to a 57–5 record in 2002.

"Mentally I was shot and physically I was dead," she said. "I just needed a break because I had played too much." Williams felt she was steadily warming up for the Australian Open starting January 13 in Melbourne and didn't want to peak too soon. "I'm far from my best right now. I haven't begun to play my best at all, so I have a long way to go. I'm sure everyone is excited to hear that."

Williams is striving to become the fifth woman to win four straight grand slams.

Blake handed Robredo his first loss in six singles matches over two years in Perth. "I picked up my game a lot from the first match, so I'm feeling pretty confident," Blake said. "Hopefully it can keep going."

* In Auckland, Mary Pierce lost in three sets to her Argentinian doubles partner Paola Suarez in the second round of the ASB Classic yesterday. Pierce, 28, whose ranking has dropped from seven to 52 over two seasons in which she has battled against injury, lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, to fifth-seeded Suarez, ranked 27. The defending champion and top-seeded Anna Pistolesi – Anna Smashnova when she won last year – advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Russia's unseeded Elena Likhovtseva.