Spain Survives a Week of Surges and Stumbles at Hopman Cup Though Spanish tennis has been far more robust on the ATP side over the last decade, it was a woman who carried the country to its fourth Hopman Cup title this week in Perth, Australia. Anabel Medina Garrigues, who at No. 50 is the third-ranked Spanish woman, won her three singles matches in the week, including a 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2 win over No. 13 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the final. Her partner, Fernando Verdasco, lost all three of his singles matches, including a 6-3, 7-5 loss to the top-ranked Novak Djokovic to begin the final. But Medina Garrigues, who has won two doubles titles at the French Open and an Olympic silver medal, successfully served out the championship to clinch a 6-4, 7-5 win for Spain over Serbia. When Verdasco knocked off an Ivanovic return for a volley winner on Spain's second championship point, Garrigues jumped in the air several times before leaping into her partner's arms. "I think she won both balls," Verdasco said sheepishly of his partner and the diamond-encrusted tennis balls, which are presented to the Hopman Cup champions "I need to give her my ball." While Spain won its fourth title in Perth, the first week of the 2013 season was not an especially strong one for the American men, with all four in action in ATP main draws falling in the first round. John Isner, who opened his season by representing the United States at the Hopman Cup, also stumbled out of the starting blocks. Isner, the top-ranked American at No. 14, lost his first two singles matches in straight sets at the International Tennis Federation sanctioned mixed-team event, including a listless 6-3, 6-2 defeat to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 55 minutes. Although Isner had lost both of his singles matches, his partner, Venus Williams, had kept the United States in contention to win the tournament for a record seventh time. Williams's singles wins and strong play in the mixed doubles had pulled the Americans through their first two ties, and a win over Spain in their final round-robin match would have put them into the final. But Isner withdrew shortly before Thursday's matches, citing knee tendinitis that he had mentioned shortly after the loss to Tsonga, forcing the Americans to forfeit to Spain. Williams had also mentioned that Isner was dealing with "a slight knee injury" in a blog posted on her Web site. "I'm very, very sorry to all the fans here," Isner said on-court, addressing the crowd. I really wanted to play here against Fernando, so I apologize for that and I hope you guys understand. I absolutely love this event - it's my third time here and it's very disappointing for me and it's a tough one to swallow. But for me, first and foremost, I've got to try and get 100 percent healthy. Isner was optimistic about being ready for the Australian Open in Melbourne, which begins Jan. 14. "I do know I've always been a fast healer when I've had little injuries pop up here and there, so I'm confident I'm going to be fine for the Australian Open," he said. It's not a great way to start the year, but I'd rather it happen this week than in two weeks. Isner did not immediately pull out of his additional warm-up tournament, the Apia International Sydney, where withdrawals from Tsonga and Richard Gasquet have left him as the top seed. Isner was replaced by his hitting partner, the 16-year-old Australian junior Thanasi Kokkinakis to play an exhibition against Verdasco. Though alternates from the correct country are often on standby for Hopman Cup, Isner's replacement by Kokkinakis marked the second time this week that a player was to be replaced by someone from another nation. Germany's Andrea Petkovic was forced to retire midway through her first match with a knee injury, and was for some time set to be replaced by Donna Vekic of Croatia. Eventually, Petkovic was replaced by fellow German Tatjana Malek. Kokkinakis, who is ranked 756 in the ATP rankings, has not had an especially great deal of success in the junior ranks either, losing in the first round of singles and doubles the past two years at the Australian Open, the only the junior Grand Slams he has ever played. But Kokkinakis pushed the 24th-ranked Verdasco to a first set tiebreaker, and even raced out to a 3-0 lead in that decider. But Verdasco won 7 of the next 8 points to take the tiebreaker, then took a quick lead in the second set to coast to a 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory. Williams won her final singles match, 6-3, 6-4, over Garrigues, wrapping up a 3-0 run in Perth that saw her overcome a slow start in all three of her matches. Williams and Kokkinakis, whom Williams had not met until moments before taking the court, then paired in a final mixed doubles rubber of the tie, losing it, 6-1, 6-3. But as unexpected as Kokkinakis's appearance was in the Hopman Cup lineup of the United States, the performance of another young Australian was perhaps even more of a surprise this week in Perth. Bernard Tomic, who played under his own Australian flag, returned from a disappointing 2012 season and a tumultuous off-season to go 3-0 against three top 30 opponents, including Djokovic. Tomic opened with a 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-5 win over No. 21 Tommy Haas of Germany, then beat Djokovic, 6-4, 6-4, and closed with a 6-3, 7-5 win over No. 23 Andreas Seppi of Italy. The run of victories comes after a messy second half in 2012 for the 20-year-old Tomic. He was fined for damaging the lawns of Wimbledon after taking a chunk out of Court 2 with an angry swipe of his racket after a first-round loss. He then lost to Andy Roddick in a listless second-round showing at the United States Open, and fell short of denying accusations of tanking that followed him at that tournament and successive ones, amassing a run of questionable efforts that earned him the nickname "Tomic the Tank Engine." His ranking dropped from a career high of No. 27 before Wimbledon to No. 52 by the end of the 2012 season. Shortly after his final tournament of the year, the police were called when Tomic was spotted wrestling a friend around a rooftop spa in Gold Coast, with witnesses fearing that they were trying to throw one another off the building. Shortly after the incident, Tomic was suspended from the Australian Davis Cup team by the captain Patrick Rafter for an upcoming February tie against Taiwan. But with Tomic now having notched three wins in Perth to start his 2013 campaign, and the once-storied landscape of Australian's men's tennis now lacking a top-40 player, it is very likely that Tomic again will be trusted with the bulk of the nation's hopes when the Australian Open begins.