Belgian Rochus stuns Safin

Jan-Michael Gambill and Monica Seles won their match

Little-known Belgian Olivier Rochus notched up a surprise win over US Open champion and world number two Marat Safin in the Hopman Cup mixed team competition on Monday.

His 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory gave Belgium victory over Russia in the round-robin event. Kim Clijsters' earlier beat Elena Likhovtseva 6-1, 6-4.

Rochus, who lost to 164th-ranked Takao Suzuki on Sunday as Belgium beat Japan to qualify for the competition, almost decided not to make the trip to Perth after suffering a wrist injury.

He said: I've only been playing for the last week, and I decided at the last moment to come here.

"I just tried to play and enjoy, and in the first tournament of the year it's good for me to play like this and to beat Safin.

Safin failed to find a rhythm in the first set and was unable to nail Rochus down after breaking him in the opening game of the final set.

Meanwhile, the United States beat Slovakia 3-0. A dramatic comeback in the final game by Jan-Michael Gambill was rewarded with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 triumph over Dominik Hrbaty and an American victory.

Monica Seles had begun the day with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over Karina Habsudova and a mixed doubles triumph later gave the Americans their 3-0 win.

There was little to choose between Gambill and Hrbaty, with the first two sets each decided by a single break of serve.

The American struck a fine backhand pass to break to 4-2 and take the opening set, before Hrbaty fought back to snatch a break at the same stage of the second set.

Seles started slowly, struggling to find her range, and faced three break points to go down 3-0 before staging a comeback.

Rhythm

In the second, Habsudova edged a break to lead 5-3 and saved a break point in the next game with an ace to level the match.

But in the decider, Seles always looked the more likely victor after hitting a smash to break for a 2-0 lead.

"It took me a while to wake up because I was very flat coming out," said Seles.

"Being 3-0 down immediately would have made a huge difference to the match, but I couldn't find my rhythm at all."

In the doubles, Seles and Gambill combined to defeat Habsudova and Hrbaty 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).

On Tuesday, Australia will play defending champions South Africa in the morning session, with Slovakia to play Belgium in the evening.