For the first time ever, Canada has won the Hopman Cup. On Sunday, the Canadians defeated Italy two matches to one for their first ever international mixed gender team title. The tournament took place in Bari, Italy.
In a curious situation, there were only six nations participating, with no United States, Great Britain or Australia. Canada finished first in an event that included Croatia, Greece, France, Italy, and Spain.
What we saw from Canada on Sunday was exceptional serving from 2019 United States Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ontario in a dominant 6-2, 6-3 win over Lucia Bronzetti of Italy. Andreescu had four aces and zero double faults, while Bronzetti had zero aces and six double faults. Andreescu also did an exceptional job seeing Bronzetti’s serve as she broke the Italian’s serve six times in nine opportunities.
Then after Auger-Aliassime lost 6-7, 7-5, [10-8] to Italy’s Flavio Cobolli, it was time for mixed doubles. Auger-Aliassime and Andreescu defeated Bronzetti and Cobolli 6-3, 6-3 to take the title. Auger-Aliassime drew on his mixed doubles experience where he won a bronze medal with Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa, Ontario at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
It was Andreescu’s play that deserved the highest praise over the weekend. She only lost nine games in three matches. Hopefully she will get into WTA events more regularly in months to come.
