World number eight Jack Sock has sealed the opening tie of the Hopman Cup for the USA, despite some stubborn resilience from Russian Karen Khachanov.
After losing the opening set in 30 minutes, Khachanov, ranked No.45, decided to up the ante by sending down 10 aces and 18 winners to claim the second in just 27 minutes.
But Sock rallied in the third, losing only three points on his serve in the set, to claim a 6-4 1-6 6-3 win.
Earlier, CoCo Vandeweghe gave the USA the perfect start to their campaign with a straight-sets win over Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The world number-10 ranked American looks much fitter than when she was in Australia last summer, claiming it’s the result of “working my butt off” in her first off-season with coach and former Australian Davis Cup champion Pat Cash.
“I didn’t put all of that work in to not (arrive fit),” she said.
She impressed in the opening set against the 15th-ranked Russian, winning in 44-minutes, losing only eight points on her serve.
The second set was much tougher, but Vandeweghe dropped only one game on her way to a 6-3 6-3 victory.
Vandeweghe came close to claiming some silverware during her last summer in Australia, but fell agonisingly close.
With Sock, team USA lost to France in the final of the mixed-teams Hopman Cup last January.
At the Australian Open, she lost to Venus Williams in the women’s singles semi-final beating seeded players Roberta Vinci, Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza along the way.
This year, she is looking for more and is pretty happy with how her campaign has started.
“Great straight sets win – it’s what you want, to get out there and feel comfortable again and playing a live match,” she said.
“You train for this but it’s a little bit different when you have the crowd and the atmosphere behind you.
“It’s the great thing about coming to Hopman. You get so many high-quality players to come and compete and we’re all competing hard for our countries and to perform well for the Australian Open.
“I hope Jack feels the same with a bit of fire in the belly. I’d like to take home a trophy at the start of the year.”
Sock and Vandeweghe are playing together for a second consecutive year here in Perth and are favourites to win a seventh Hopman Cup 0title for the USA in the 30th year of the event.
Russia, making their first appearance since 2010, won their only title in 2007.
They will play the popular Swiss team of Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic on Tuesday.
Team USA will meet the Japanese team of Naomi Osaka and Yuichi Sugata, also on Tuesday.
