Hopman Cup: Kyrgios, Australia knocked out in shock defeat

Nick Kyrgios faces questions over a knee injury as Australia’s title defence was dealt a fatal blow.

Nick Kyrgios during his mixed doubles match with teammate Daria Gavrilova.

A year after Nick Kyrgios led the nation to a drought-breaking Hopman Cup victory, Australia’s title defence is already dashed.

A shock loss to the Czech Republic at Perth Arena leaves Australia out of contention with the tournament yet to reach the halfway mark.

It means Australia’s final clash in the mixed-teams event against the United States tomorrow night is a dead rubber, with America assured of making the final.

Kyrgios, despite battling a niggling knee problem, remains undefeated in singles play after proving too solid for Adam Pavlasek when winning 7-5 6-4.

But Dasha Gavrilova is yet to strike the form that saw her topple World No. 1 Angelique Kerber in October on route to a career-high ranking of 24.

The 22-year-old is yet to win a rubber in Perth this year, having fallen in three sets to Lucie Hradecka 4-6 6-4 6-4 last night.

Needing to win the mixed doubles to have any hope of progressing to Saturday night’s final, the Australian pair were beaten 3-4 (1) 4-3 (1) 4-2 in the Fast4 format.

It followed their 2-1 loss to Spaniard’s Feliciano Lopez and Lara Arruabarrenna on Sunday night.

The Spanish pair were easily beaten by the American combination of Jack Sock and CoCo Vandeweghe yesterday afternoon.

Gavrilova is frustrated by her form, though feels she did improve against Hradecka.

“It’s Pretty tough, pretty disappointing,” she said.

“I am still not playing my great tennis ... but I think I played a lot better than I played the other night, so there are some positives, but there is still a lot of room to improve.”

While Kyrgios was bothered by knee pain during his singles victory, he did not appeared hindered in the mixed doubles.

The Australian had previously blamed the soreness on a mishap while playing basketball, but last night said he did not know what had triggered the issue.

But he is not overly concerned despite a busy schedule ahead of the Australian Open.

Gavrilova and Kyrgios joined Mark Philippoussis and Jelena Doric as the only Australian combinations to win the Hopman Cup.