Czechs coast into final

Tomas Berdych and Petra Kvitova have put the Czech Republic into the final of the Hopman Cup with victory over Denmark in Perth.

The Czech duo will face France in today’s final after Berdych defeated Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen 6-1 6-3 at Perth’s Burswood Dome. The victory followed world No 2 Kvitova’s unbeaten singles run this week which had seen her register a three-sets win over world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki.

Berdych recorded the win which sealed a final against Richard Gasquet and Marion Bartoli with a comfortable performance against Nielsen, taking the first set 6-1 in 22 minutes and the second 6-3 in 36 minutes. Berdych added the win over Nielsen to a three-set defeat of Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and then a straight-sets victory over the USA’s Mardy Fish.

lZheng Jie battled back from losing the first five games to beat third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and claim a place in the final of the ASB Classic.

The Chinese made a slow start but became stronger as her Russian opponent tired and eventually prevailed 2-6 6-3 6-3 to set up a title match against Flavia Pennetta.

Kuznetsova was disappointed by her display as she builds up to the Australian Open which gets under way on 16 January.

Pennetta beat Angelique Kerber after playing the “perfect match”. The Italian won 6-1 6-2 to avenge her loss to the German in last year’s US Open quarter-finals.