Sunburnt Murray leads Britain to second win in Perth

Deepak Jain>Wed, Jan 06 10 01:49 PM

Andy Murray misjudged the strength of the Perth sun but timed everything else to perfection as he led Britain to a 2-1 win over Germany to move a step closer to the final of the Hopman Cup mixed team event on Wednesday.

Laura Robson pushed Sabine Lisicki before going down 7-6 6-3 in the women's singles rubber but the world number four trounced Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4 6-1 before teaming up with the teenager to win the deciding mixed doubles 6-3 6-2.

Victory over Russia in their final round-robin match on Friday would ensure Britain's place in the final of the traditional Australian Open warm-up event.

Following on from his routine win over Andrey Golubev in Britain's win against Kazakhstan on Monday, Murray looked sharp from the start and was far too good for Kohlschreiber.

Murray has vowed to become more aggressive in 2010 and the Scot was true to his word as he stormed 4-1 clear thanks to some crisp hitting.

PERTH HEAT

The only blip came when he dropped his serve in the seventh game and Kohlschreiber levelled at 4-4, but he broke again to win the set and then roared through the second set in just 17 minutes.

After cruising through his two singles matches this week, Murray admitted that the scorching Perth weather was causing him as much trouble as any of his opponents.

"My back is on fire," he told reporters. "I practised yesterday with my shirt off and I got so, so burnt.

"(But) I served really well and didn't really give him too many chances on my serve. I think that was the main difference."

Robson gave world number 22 Sabine Lisicki a real fright with a performance way above her 15 years.

The Briton served for the first set at 5-4 but a touch of inexperience let the German back in and though Robson led the tiebreak 5-4 with a mini break, Lisicki pinched it 7-5 and then took the second set by virtue of three breaks to one.

When it came to the mixed doubles, Robson more than held her own as she and Murray romped to their second victory in three days to clinch victory.

Murray had joked that his back was sore after the first match because he had carried Robson, but the 15-year-old said she had got her own back this time.

"You know I think I did," Robson said.

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