The pair beat Switzerland, 2-0, to give their country its first title in the competition since 1996
The Hopman Cup is back on the tennis calendar, and Croatia is back in the winner’s circle. Borna Coric and Donna Vekic clinched the first title for their country in the competition in nearly 30 years with a 2-0 win over Switzerland in Sunday’s final. Coric clinched the win with a 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Leandro Riedi, which followed Vekic’s 6-3, 6-4 win over Celine Naef.
The pair of Coric and Vekic went 2-0 in round-robin Group B, beating both Belgium and Spain 2-1 in deciding mixed doubles matches. For their place in the final, Coric and Vekic beat Carlos Alcaraz and Rebeka Masarova in a thrilling 1-6, 6-4, 14-12 mixed doubles match; in the third-set tiebreak, they saved a match point.
“When we came here, we were both not playing our best tennis, and we never played mixed doubles,” Coric said Sunday in their victory speech. “We were not sure how it was going to play out, but we were very happy that we were playing, and it was my pleasure to be here with [her].”
In this new edition of the Hopman Cup in Nice the Danish Holger Rune was also present, teaming up with Clara Tauson. The Danes were well supported with more than a thousand fans in the stands during the week “It is by far the most present foreign population in this Hopman Cup. They are more numerous than the Spaniards, the Belgians,” said Philippe Weiss, operational director of the tournament.
One of the stunners of the event was France, with veteran Richard Gasquet beating world number 6, Rune in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.
