Winning French pair Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Alize Cornet.
Camera IconWinning French pair Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Alize Cornet. Credit: Supplied/Jon Hewson

Tsonga triumphs at Hopman

Anne Gartner, Guardian ExpressEastern Reporter

France won the final against Poland 2-1 in front of more than 10,000 people at Perth Arena on Saturday night.

Tsonga beat Polish player Grzegorz Panfil in three sets (6-3 3-6 6-3), with the experienced player’s strength and serves proving too much for Panfil.

The French player set the tone early, beating world number 288 Panfil with speed, but errors from Tsonga marred the second set allowing Panfil back into the match.

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The favourite returned in the third set with renewed focus and quickly settled the win.

World number 5 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland won the women’s match against Alize Cornet 6-3 6-7 6-2.

Long games, with many decided after deuce points, were the feature of the women’s match, with Cornet at one point unable to catch her breath prompting a time violation from the umpire.

But world number 27 Cornet was able to fight back and win the second set after it went into sudden death.

The favourite Radwanska then came out firing and won the deciding set, levelling the final to one game apiece.

Tsonga quickly took charge of the doubles match, with France winning 6-0 6-2 in just 47 minutes.

The French pair’s delight at winning the tournament was evident on court with Cornet jumping into Tsonga’s arms.

‘I’m really happy to win today,’ Tsonga said.

‘It’s always good to hold the trophy.’

Bernard Tomic and Samantha Stosur were unable to guide Australia into the final after the pair lost to Italy earlier in the week.