Uzbekistan qualifies for Hopman Cup


Courtesy B. Mitchell

By Etienne Stekelenburg
December 29 2002

The Uzbeki team has secured a place in the draw for the Hyundai Hopman Cup XV, the ITF tournament that is held in Perth, Australia. Uzbekistan and Paraguay were having a play-off match on Saturday. After Uzbekistan won the decisive doubles match they will have to face USA in the next match.

After Iroda Tulyaganova lost her first match to Rossana Neffa-de Los Rios 4-6 2-6 her partner in the Uzbekistan team Oleg Ogorodov won his match against Ramon Delgado from Paraguay 7-5 6-3. The doubles match Tulyaganova/Ogorodov vs. Neffa-de Los Rios/Delgado resulted in a win for Uzbekistan 6-4 7-6 (7).

 

Iroda Tulyaganova, who was having trouble with knee and elbow injuries last season and made a huge drop in her ranking from # 16 in June 2002 to # 55 at the end of 2002, will be playing against Serena Williams of the USA in her next match. In Miami 2001 Tulyaganova took Williams to three sets. Uzbekistan will meet The USA (Serena Williams & James Blake) on Monday.

 

Uzbekistan will also play against Belgium (Kim Clijsters & Xavier Malisse) on Thursday and Spain (Virginia Ruano Pascual & Tommy Robredo) on Friday.

 

 

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