Former champion Russia got off to a solid start in the Hopman Cup on Sunday, beating Italy 2-1 in the mixed team event with straight-set singles wins. The brother and sister pairing of Marat Safin and Dinara Safina got the better of Simone Bolelli and Flavia Pennetta in the Group B singles matches before losing out in the doubles. Sporting two black eyes picked up in a fight in Moscow, Safin used his big serve to overcome a stuttering Bolelli 7-6, 6-4, while world number three Safina won six successive games in the second set to beat Pennetta 7-5, 6-3. With the tie already decided, Italy salvaged some pride by coming back from a set down to clinch the doubles match 7-5, 4-6, 6-7 after a final set tiebreak. The Russians on Wednesday face Taiwanese pair Hsieh Su-Wei and Lu Yen-Hsun, who lost 3-0 in their opening group encounter with France's Alize Cornet and Gilles Simon. Group A matches start on Monday, when hosts Australia take on Germany and five-times winners the United States meet Slovakia. Gasquet prevails Seventh-seeded Richard Gasquet of France recovered to beat countryman Marc Gicquel 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 Sunday in the first round of the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament. The joint ATP-WTA tournament is being played for the first time at the new Queensland Tennis Center. In other men's matches, American Taylor Dent beat Steve Darcis of Belgium 7-6 (0), 6-2 and will play Gasquet in the second round. Two other Americans failed to advance. Fourth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden beat Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-3 and Julien Benneteau of France downed Robby Ginepri 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to advance to a second-rounder against Soderling. Among first-round women's matches, second-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus defeated Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 6-0, 6-2 and third-seeded Marion Bartoli of France beat Australian Monika Wejnert 6-1, 6-2. Jarmila Gajdosova of Slovakia beat China's Peng Shuai 6-4, 6-2. Seventh-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia withdrew Sunday due to an unspecified illness. She was scheduled to play Samantha Stosur of Australia in the first official center court match at the 5,500-seat Pat Rafter Arena. Hometown favorite Stosur will now play Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama in the first round. Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic plays her first-round match Monday night against Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic while men's top seed and Ivanovic's Serb compatriot Novak Djokovic, the defending Australian Open champion, plays his first match Tuesday against Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. Djokovic, 21, said Sunday he spent 10 days in the Serbian mountains and two weeks preparing on court in Monaco to get ready for his Melbourne title defense. “I take the best memories of my career out of Melbourne last year, and I really look forward getting back there,” he said. “Of course there's going to be a certain amount of expectations and pressure as the Grand Slam champion but I will try to use it in my favor and look at it as a positive challenge.” Djokovic could move ahead of Roger Federer and into the No. 2 spot in the rankings, behind Rafael Nadal, if he wins in Brisbane. His biggest threat comes from second-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, the man he beat in the Australian Open final last year. Djokovic is just 10 points behind Federer, who is starting his year playing an ATP event in Qatar. Neither are defending any points so Djokovic can move ahead of Federer if he wins the inaugural Brisbane event. His first-round opponent Gulbis is well-known to him _ they both trained as teenagers at the same German tennis academy. Gulbis pushed Djokovic hard in two matches in 2008. “He has nothing to lose,” Djokovic said. “He's a big server and for both of us the first match of the season, so it's tricky.”
