Novak Djokovic steers Serbia to win over Australia

Novak Djokovic comfortably handled Lleyton Hewitt 6-2, 6-4 as Serbia stayed unbeaten at the Hopman Cup by sweeping Australia 3-0 yesterday in Perth.

Ana Ivanovic produced another impressive performance to see off Alicia Molik 6-4, 6-0 and win the first point for Serbia despite suffering an injury scare in the second set when she appeared to overextend her left knee. Djokovic and Ivanovic then combined to win the doubles 6-7, 6-4 (10-6 tiebreaker).

Serbia lead Group A with two wins from two ties and can reach Saturday's final by winning one of the three matches against Belgium in their last round-robin tie tomorrow. Earlier, Belgium eliminated Kazakhstan 3-0 to stay in contention. Australia, also with one win, play Kazakhstan tomorrow.

Djokovic, who has won his past four matches against Hewitt on the ATP Tour, saved four break points at 2-2 then won four games on the trot to take the first set 6-2.

Egged on by a pocket of noisy Serbian supporters, the 3rd-ranked Djokovic broke Hewitt in the second game, only for the Australian to break straight back. The next games went with serve until Hewitt suffered the heartbreak of double-faulting twice at 5-4 to hand Djokovic the win.

"I played great, especially the beginning of the second I was playing some of the best tennis I've played in this year and a half," Djokovic said. "We players have great respect for him (Hewitt) because he's a big fighter, he keeps on coming back. He's won everything - Grand Slam, world No 1, Davis Cup - and he wants more, so you have to respect that."

Ivanovic was relieved to feel fine after overextending her left knee midway through a point while leading Molik by a set and 3-0. Ivanovic managed to finish off the set 6-0. "I was a little bit scared because in that one split step that I made I went a little bit low and I felt a sharp pain in my knee," Ivanovic said. "So I thought I better check with the doctors and see what they think. I'm going to go see them afterwards. But it feels fine. We had some really tough points and good rallies. I think it was high-class tennis considering it's just the beginning of the year."

Earlier, seven-time Grand Slam winner Justine Henin beat Sesil Karatantcheva 6-4, 6-3 as Belgium put away Kazakhstan.

Today, it's the United States v Italy, followed by Britain v France.