Australia have lost their opening Hopman Cup tie to Poland after world No.231 Matt Ebden fell just short of causing a boilover against Jerzy Janowicz.

Ebden was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but he lost the next eight games to hand Janowicz the contest 3-6 7-5 6-0 in 102 minutes at Perth Arena.

The result gave Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie after Casey Dellacqua lost 6-2 6-3 to world No.6 Agnieszka Radwanska.

Ebden was in hot form early, but a niggle in his left calf troubled him midway through the contest.

The 27-year-old called for an injury time-out after losing the second set, but he was clearly troubled by the injury during a third set that lasted just 26 minutes.

Earlier, Dellacqua produced some rusty shots in key moments but at least found herself in good positions during her loss to world No.6 Radwanska.

“I had some good stuff tonight, and then there was some stuff where I set the point up and didn’t execute the best,” Dellacqua said.

“Hopefully as matches go on, that starts to improve.

“They are things you can improve, and they’re little things you can work on.

“I can go out for the next two days and work on finishing balls or different shots.

“It was an extremely tough match first up, but I gave what I had.

“Obviously it wasn’t good enough to beat someone like Radwanska.

“I haven’t played for a couple of months, so it’s good to find my feet.”

In the day’s other tie, the Czech Republic notched an upset 2-1 win over Canada.

Veteran Lucie Safarova beat world No.7 Eugenie Bouchard 6-0 6-4, before Canadian Vasek Pospisil levelled the tie with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 win over Adam Pavlasek.

The Czech Republic then secured the tie with a 6-4 6-2 win in the mixed doubles.