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In what can only be described as one of the most dramatic finales in the tournament’s history, it was third time lucky for France as its glamour pairing of Alize Cornet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took home the nation’s maiden Hopman Cup title.
The French, losers to Slovakia and the Czech Republic in 1998 and 2012 respectively, defeated top seeds and first-time Hopman Cup participants Poland by two rubbers to one in a finale which would guarantee a first time champion.
Kicking off the final, Tsonga, a finalist at the Australian Open six years ago, was expected to romp past Grzegorz Panfil, ranked 288 in the world, in the men’s rubber.
But the Frenchman did not have everything go his way as he was pushed to three sets by the Polish sensation, who was called up to replace injured Wimbledon semi-finalist Jerzy Janowicz.
Panfil’s performance over the week, in which he recorded victories over Andreas Seppi and Milos Raonic, have led to calls from commentators (including highly-respected Darren Cahill) for him to be offered a wild card into the Australian Open, which starts on Monday week.
Even Agnieszka Radwanska got in on the act, supporting the campaign to give Panfil a wild card into the year’s first Grand Slam tournament.
Eventually, Tsonga’s experience counted the most and his victory allowed France to go ahead by one rubber entering the women’s rubber, which was to be contested by two former junior French Open champions in Radwanska and Alize Cornet.
In their first meeting since 2009, Cornet dropped the first set to the Pole before claiming the second set in a drama-filled tiebreak, which included her being penalised for a time violation and breaking down when it seemed all was lost.
Radwanska eventually claimed the deciding set to level the tie at one-all, with the mixed doubles ultimately deciding the winner.
The stage had been set for what would be a tense and dramatic finale, but it would end in somewhat of an anti-climax, with the French thrashing the Poles in the doubles rubber to finally capture the Hopman Cup for the first time.
Although Poland will be disappointed that they could not convert their maiden Hopman Cup appearance into glory, at least Agnieszka Radwanska will be happy to have some guaranteed match practice – even if it did cost her the title in Auckland, which was won by Ana Ivanovic this year.
And so too will be Grzegorz Panfil. His current world ranking of 288 is way below the threshold for even entry into the Australian Open qualifying draw, but after his phenomenal breakthrough calls are set to grow louder for a wild card into what could be his first Grand Slam at the age of 26.
France, who originally named Marion Bartoli as its female representative until the Wimbledon champion suddenly announced her retirement last August, will be happy that they have finally landed their first title after three attempts.
Bartoli and Richard Gasquet had lost the final to the Czech Republic pairing of Tomas Berdych and Petra Kvitova two years ago, failing to win a single rubber.
Alize Cornet was announced as her replacement in October last year, and, as it turned out, the move did pay a lot of dividends.
Cornet, though, was able to win only one of her three singles rubbers as opposed to Tsonga, who went undefeated in his four rubbers (seven overall, including three last year).
The confidence and momentum Tsonga gained in Perth will be valuable when he lands in Melbourne, as he tries to put a tough 2013 behind him.
He will have quarter-final points to defend having lost to Roger Federer at this stage last year.
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