Hopman Cup: Czech Republic edge out France to win

Petra Kvitova and Tomas Berdych produced some impeccable tennis to give the Czech Republic the Hopman Cup with a 2-0 win over France in the final on Saturday.

Wimbledon champion Kvitova saw off Marion Bartoli 7-5, 6-1 in the opening match and then Berdych defeated Richard Gasquet 7-6, 6-4 to take an unassailable lead in the tie.

With the result decided, the mixed doubles match did not go ahead.

"It couldn't be better," Berdych said. "It has been an extremely great week.

"I need to congratulate Petra, she won all she could and I tried to add some winning of my own so we could be standing here with such a nice trophy. It was the best final we could have," he added.

World No. 2 Kvitova could overtake Caroline Wozniacki at the top of the rankings if she wins the Sydney International next week and Berdych had no doubt the Dane was on borrowed time.

"She's going to be No. 1," Berdych said of his team-mate.

Both Czech players were unbeaten in singles matches during the mixed team competition at the Burswood Dome and are in great form with Australian Open starting on January 16.

Kvitova, however, was circumspect about her Australian Open prospects.

"Many of us can win. We will see. This has been a perfect week of preparation. It will be a very tough grand slam, as usual," she said.

Kvitova had trailed the gallant Bartoli 5-3 in the first set but hit a purple patch of scything first serves and booming forehands to win four straight games in front of a capacity crowd of 8,365.

The Czech swept through the second set for victory in one hour and 29 minutes.

Berdych gave a supreme demonstration of power hitting and although Gasquet fought as hard as he could, the Frenchman ended up throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.

World number seven Berdych controlled the majority of points with his customarily flat, deep groundstrokes and the second set risked being a whitewash until Gasquet recovered one of two service breaks he had conceded.

Apart from that glitch, Berdych was almost robotic in his execution in a match lasting one hour and 34 minutes.