Australian singles stars Bernard Tomic and Sam Stosur both crumbled overnight in Perth as Australia fell 2-1 to Canada in their Hopman Cup opener.
Tomic’s return on Australian soil began in impressive style as he pushed Milos Raonic to a tiebreaker in the first set, eventually losing 7-6 (8-6), before being completely overrun in the second 6-1.
Tomic failed to keep track of Raonic’s high speed serves- reaching 220 km/h- as the world No.11 collected a bunch of aces in his 22-minute second set roll over.
The loss was also the 21-year-old’s first appearance under new coach Velimir Zovko.
“It was good to get out and play that match. Obviously next week is where it counts,” the 21-year-old said.
“It’s very difficult to play well in the first match. He has the best serve, for me, in the world right now. There’s no doubt about that.
“His serve was that good and I was struggling to get racquets on it.”
Sam Stosur’s poor play on home soil continued to Saturday night against Eugenie Bouchard.
The world’s highest ranked teenager at No.32, Bouchard showed some great spirit to fight from a set down to win 4-6 6-2 6-3.
While the Tomic-Stosur duo managed a win in the mixed doubles, 6-2 6-4, the completed stumbles in the singles meant Canada had already secured the victory.
To reach the Hopman Cup final, the seventh seed Aussies will need to beat Italy and Poland.
Both teams also faced off on Saturday night with top seed Poland taking a comprehensive 3-0 win.
World No.5 Agnieszka Radwanska moved past Flavia Pennetta in straight sets while the 288th-ranked Grzegorz Panfil managed victory over Andreas Seppi when the world No.25 retired due to illness.
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