Murray and Robson start Hopman Cup with win

ANDY Murray and Laura Robson won their opening Hopman Cup tie against Kazakhstan after a Champions Tie-Break in Perth.

BATTLING WIN: Andy Murray and Laura Robson come through a Champions Tie-Break to win their opening tie at the Hopman Cup in Perth (Getty Images)

The British duo came through 3-6, 7-5, 12-10 against Andrey Golubev and Yaroslava Shvedova. However, Murray's camp will be worried about a potential groin injury to the Brit who looked distinctly uncomfortable as the match progressed and limped around court in the second set.

Murray has been meticulous in his preparation for the 2010 season, choosing to train in the heat of Miami before flying straight to Perth and hoping he will acclimatise to the sweltering conditions in time for the Australian Open in Melbourne later in January.

But having returned straight to court for the mixed immediately after winning his first singles match of the year against Golubev, the Scot may wonder if he can continue with the format in Perth for a potential three more matches.

But the Scot laughed off any injury concerns and insisted it was job well done for the first day.

"It was just stiffness really. Laura hit me on the back with her racket at one point and I was already sore from carrying her through the match," joked Murray.

"I'm happy with how the day's gone though. It's been a long one and I'm looking forward to getting some rest now.

"I really enjoyed the mixed as well. It's good fun and gets the adrenaline going and Laura helped me out a lot for the win."

 

Murray had warned the crowd not to expect much from him and admitted he was ‘rubbish at mixed' but the British duo raced away to a 5-0 lead in the first set, breaking serve three times.

The Kazakh duo showed a brief show of resistance and reclaimed one of the breaks back, but Robson and Murray proved too strong and tied up the first set 6-3.

The second set was much tighter as Golubev and Shvedova started to sense an upset could be on the cards.

But as Robson's lack of experience started to shine through, Murray began to resemble a doubles veteran as he ruthlessly attacked the short ball and pulled out his trademark lob to lethal effect.

The duo worked themselves a break point at 2-2 but Murray was overeager and netted a volley after jumping in front of his young partner.

But as the set progressed, it was Robson who started to lead the British charge as Murray began to look uncomfortable on court and was stretching his groin more and more between points.

Robson, who lost out to Shvedova in her opening singles match earlier in the day, manufactured a break point at 4-4 but the Kazakh duo held firm, before breaking the 15-year old's serve at 6-5 to take the match to a Champions Tie-Break.

The youngster's nerve was tested again when she was called to serve at 6-7 down in the tie-break and after holding the first point, a Murray error handed Kazakhstan the advantage.

But a Golubev double fault put the pairs back on level terms and Robson safely put away two volleys on Murray's serve to hand the Brits their first match point.

Shvedova denied the Brits at first but after losing the next point, Robson took advantage of a match point on her own serve to seal the win.