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Friday 6 January had been a pretty hot day (37.5 degrees to be exact) but things were certainly heating up big time inside the Dome too. The final of Hopman Cup XVIII got underway at 5.30pm with Michaella Krajicek taking on Lisa Raymond. Both players were a bit nervous at first and there were 2 consecutive breaks to start off the match. However, it was Krajicek who held her nerve (and serve) better and was able to take the first set 6-4, despite some shaky double faults. The second set was more closely fought out and ended up going to a tie-break. Krajicek was able to grit it out 7-4, giving the Dutch a headstart 1-0. Knowing the US hopes rested on his shoulders, Taylor Dent came out and meant business. He opened the match with an ace and pretty much didn't stop from there on! He ended up slamming down 13 aces (one clocking 237 km/h) and had minimal double faults. Hurricane Dent was clearly in no mood to hang around, barely allowing Peter Wessels into the match! The Dutchman had shown good form in all his other singles matches this week, but was no match for the big serving American tonight. He was dismissed 6-1 6-4 in just 46 minutes, setting up a live mixed doubles to determine who would be crowned champions of Hopman Cup XVIII. Although the Dutch came out firing early, winning the first set 6-4, the Americans soon found their rhythm, lifting their game to take the second set 6-2. So, incredibly, the final would be decided by a match tie-break in the third set! It was the Americans who ended up winning 10-7 in a super come-from-behind victory to claim the 4th Hopman Cup for their country. Despite the fact that Taylor Dent is half Australian (his Father, Phil, played Davis Cup for Australia) and has more family in Australia than in the US, there were no hard feelings and most of the crowd felt it was as though a bit of Australia had also won the Hopman Cup. However, Australian crowds also love underdogs and it was certainly sad to see the Dutch lose after coming so close. In any case, it had been a good final, which should hopefully set these players up well for the rest of the Australian Summer and, indeed, the rest of the year. So, now that the curtains are falling on the 18th Hopman Cup, what can we take away from it? Well first of all, it was great to see qualifiers come through and make it to the final, which had only been done twice before in the history of the tournament (Thailand were finalists at Hopman Cup XII and the Slovak Republic won Hopman Cup X). I must admit (and I know I was not the only one), I did feel it was one of the weaker fields the tournament has seen and the withdrawal of Marat Safin, only made that worse. Compared to the times when there were world number 1s like Lleyton Hewitt and Serena Williams here, this year's field only had Gaston Gaudio at world number 10. There was, however, a lot of new talent particularly on the women's side, notably with Ana Ivanovic at world number 16, Svetlana Kuznetsova at world number 18 and Anna-Lena Groenefeld at world number 21. There was also the emerging star, Michaella Krajicek who will most definitely go on to do great things. On the men's side, apart from Gaudio, there was Thomas Johansson, Nicolas Kiefer and Taylor Dent who are all decent players and the popular rising star, Novak Djokovic, who was really a stand-out in terms of personality. I would, however, like to see countries like Spain, France and Croatia come to Perth, because I think they are very prominent in world tennis today. Spain won the Davis Cup in 2004 and have a plethora of players, both male and female, that could make for a very interesting team. They won the Hopman Cup 4 years ago and I think the crowd would like to see them return. I would personally like to see Rafael Nadal or David Ferrer make an appearance, perhaps with Nuria Llagostera-Vives or Anabel Medina Garrigues. France also has a lot of depth and, after last year's disappointment where they were forced to withdraw beforehand, I think they should be invited back, with the original team of Richard Gasquet and Tatiana Golovin, (obviously I would love to have Olivier Patience here, but one must be realistic, hehe). And Croatia are also definitely a country to watch, like Serbia. They are the reigning Davis Cup champions and have Ivan Ljubicic currently ranked at 9 and Mario Ancic at 21. If either of them teamed up with Karolina Sprem, it would also be exciting! Lastly, a Russian team of Marat Safin with sister, Dinara Safina, would definitely be a huge drawcard! Those are, of course, just my humble opinions, but who knows, perhaps one of the tournament organisers will read this sometime and bear them in mind!! Until then, it is time to recharge the batteries and get ready for the big one...the AUSTRALIAN OPEN!! Stay tuned for my reports when I get back!