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| Andy Murray to head Hopman Cup with Robson |
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
PERTH: World number four Andy Murray will be the major draw card at next year's Hopman Cup, it was announced here Tuesday.
Murray will be the highest ranked singles player at the mixed teams tournament, followed by Russian Elena Dementieva, who is ranked fifth.
Both will be making their Hopman Cup debuts.
Murray, 22, who will be paired with English starlet Laura Robson, said he was looking forward to using the tournament as preparation for his bid to win his first grand slam at the subsequent Australian Open.
"I'm hoping it will be good preparation for the Australian Open," Murray said. "Laura is a great talent and it will be good to link up together playing for our country."
Tournament boss Paul McNamee was thrilled to have Murray on board.
"Andy Murray is one of the superstars of world tennis," he said. "His appearance with Laura Robson is a real coup for the tournament."
Born in Australia, Robson, 15, won the junior title at Wimbledon last year and is currently ranked 422nd in the world.
Only one spot in the eight-nation event remains, and that will be filled by the winner of the upcoming Asian Hopman Cup.
Spain's Tommy Robredo, a past Hopman Cup winner, will be joined by Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
Ranked 16th in the world, the 27-year-old Robredo was just a teenager when he won the event in 2002 with Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, and will be making his fourth appearance here.
Martinez Sanchez, 27 and currently enjoying a career-high ranking of 31, has won two singles titles this year, beating top-10 players Caroline Wozniacki (twice) and Nadia Petrova.
The rankings for the tournament were also announced on Tuesday, with the home team pairing of Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur the top seeds.
The Russian pairing of Dementieva and Igor Adreev are ranked second, followed by the British pair, Spain, Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber and Sabine Lisicki, Romania's Victor Hanescu and Sirena Cirstea, and United States duo John Isner and Melanie Oudin.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
