Yaroslava Shevdova, photograph by Flickr user ataelw (CC-usage).

It is so far a successful season start for Kazakh tennis players Yaroslava Shvedova and Andrey Golubev with their solid performance in Perth, Australia during the Hopman Cup. This tournament was a unique opportunity to play against some of the strongest athletes.

Unlike other tennis tournaments, the Hopman Cup is a mixed competition. Every match consists of women’s and men’s singles and mixed doubles matches. Teams are divided into two groups, winners make it to the Final. Eight nations compete in this tournament — seven selected teams and the winner of the qualifying tournament, Asian Hopman Cup.

Last autumn, Yaroslava and Andrey booked Kazakhstan a spot in the tournament for the first time after winning Asian Hopman Cup in Astana.  On Australian hardcourt the Kazakh team was supposed to face Russia, Great Britain and Germany. 

Despite having cold symptoms in her first game, Shvedova downed 15-year-old Laura Robson from Great Britain (6-4, 3-6, 0-6).  Unfortunately, Golubev didn’t have a single chance against world’s #4 Andy Murray (6-2, 6-2). The Kazakh duo fought hard in mixed doubles match, had a match point, but the British team was better in the tie breaker (6-3, 5-7, 7-6(12/10).

The next match against the Russian team became a delight for tennis fans in Kazakhstan. Shvedova lost to Olympic champion Elena Dementieva (3-6, 1-6), but Golubev, who was ranked 133, beat Igor Andreev, who is ranked 35 (6-4, 6-3). Then the Russian duo lost to their ex-compatriots in mixed doubles match (7-6(7/3), 6-4).  Golubev remarked:

Today was a very good day for me.  First I played great in singles and we played really good in doubles”. “We were one point away from beating Britain and now we win today. It was really good. I hope we can make the Final.

Thus three teams in Group B could reach the Final — Kazakhstan, Russia and Great Britain. Shvedova beat Sabine Lisicki (6-4 7-6) while Golubev had little trouble defeating Philipp Kohlschreiber (6-2 6-1). So the Kazakh duo players made it 2-0.  However, their mixed match was canceled when the British team celebrated a third victory and made it to the Final, later losing to Spain.  Shvedova remarked:

I’m very happy with this result to finish second in the Group after we qualified. We almost beat England when we played them and just lost after having a match point in the deciding Match Tie-break. It was very close and we had a match point that we didn’t make. Still it’s a very good result for our country and I think they were happy with us.

Despite being the tournament’s lowest ranked nation, Kazakhstan performed very well in Perth, Shvedova and Golubev were close to reaching the Final, and hopefully this impressive start will inspire our athletes to reach their goals in upcoming season.