Australian Casey Dellacqua insists there’s no need to worry despite opening her year with back-to-back Hopman Cup losses.
And Marinko Matosevic made an instant impact at the mixed-teams event, beating Benoit Paire 2-6 6-4 6-2 just 24 hours after answering an SOS call from tournament organisers.
Dellacqua, who was beaten 6-2 6-3 by Agnieszka Radwanska on Sunday, crumbled when it mattered most on the way to a 4-6 7-5 6-1 loss to world No.18 Alize Cornet on Wednesday night.
At 5-5 in the second set, Dellacqua had the chance to push for a straight-sets win.
Instead, Cornet won eight of the next nine games to wrap up victory in 120 minutes, with Dellacqua committing 52 unforced errors for the match.
“I can take lots of positives,” Dellacqua said.
“Obviously it’s only the second match of the season, so it’s not a time to go, ‘Oh gosh, it’s chaos’.
“It’s a time to just try to continue to improve.
“Maybe (the problem was) a bit of concentration more than anything.
“When you haven’t played for a while it’s a matter of making sure you’re switched on for the whole match.
“And when you play a lot of matches, you instinctively do that. Maybe I just lost my concentration a little bit there. That just allowed her to find her rhythm a bit better.”
Matosevic, who was rushed to Perth to replace the injured Matt Ebden, recovered from a slow start to beat an injured Paire and level the tie at 1-1.
Paire looked set for a cruisy win after taking the first set and racing to a 2-0 lead in the second, but a problem with his left knee halted his charge.
Matosevic secured the win on his fourth match point.
Cornet battled a sore back during her win over Dellacqua, but the 24-year-old was feeling good by the end.
“My back is always a little bit painful,” Cornet said.
“It’s my weakness. Sometimes when I’m a bit tired, I feel pain in my back.
“But nothing serious. When I got warm, it was better. She made me run a lot.”
Dellacqua has a golden chance to snare her first win of the year when she takes on Great Britain’s Heather Watson on Friday night.
