Spain dump Switzerland in Hopman Cup

Spain's Tommy Robredo applied the lethal touch to send defending champions Switzerland out of the Hopman Cup on Tuesday, beating their number one player Roger Federer 7-6 6-2.

Federer and girlfriend Miroslava Vavrinec lost to Australia in Sunday's opening Group B match and now have no chance of reaching Saturday's final.

Robredo's win maintained Spain's 100 percent record in the mixed team event this year after they beat Argentina 3-0 on Sunday.

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, bidding to become the first player to win the Hopman Cup twice, had put third-seeded Spain on their way with a 6-2 6-0 demolition of Vavrinec in the Burswood Dome.

The pair later teamed up to beat Federer and Vavrinec 6-2 6-3 in the mixed doubles for another 3-0 victory.

Earlier Belgium bounced back from 1-0 down to beat a spirited Italian team 2-1. Xavier Malisse and Kim Clijsters won the decisive mixed doubles 6-3 6-4 against Davide Sanguinetti and Francesca Schiavone to snatch the Group A match.

Last year Roger Federer teamed up with Martina Hingis to lift the trophy and Robredo's victory was the performance of the day, the baseliner pulling out all the stops to beat the world number 12.

"To start the year like this is unbelievable...to beat Roger, I mean he is a really great player," the 19-year-old Spaniard said afterwards.

"I managed to win the tiebreak and then just played great in the second set."

CLIJSTERS SHOCKED

Sanchez-Vicario outclassed the 19-year-old Vavrinec, bludgeoning the 119th-ranked player throughout the 50-minute match.

"I just tried to play my own game. I attacked the ball when I had to and served pretty well too," said Sanchez-Vicario, who won the event with brother Emilio in 1990.

In the morning session, Malisse was forced to haul Belgium back into the clash by beating Sanguinetti 6-4 7-5 after Clijsters had been upset by the little-known Schiavone.

The women's world number five slumped to a 6-4 6-4 defeat in her first match of the new year.

"It was important to win that," Clijsters said after Belgium triumphed 6-3 6-4 in the doubles.

The Belgians looked more comfortable throughout in the doubles on the indoor court and clinched victory when Clijsters dropped a touch volley just over the net.

"It was good to get that win after losing this morning," she said. "I've played her before and she just chases everything down...I knew it would be tough.

"And 10 o'clock in the morning is early to be running around on New Year's Day."

BEST WIN

Schiavone needed eight match points to beat Clijsters, completing the best win of her career by ripping a backhand down the line.

"I played well and it was a great match," she said afterwards. "It was important. It helped me that we had to qualify for this because I played before and I made some shots...my confidence is good."

Italy qualified for the main draw by beating Greece in a play-off on Saturday.

Clijsters left the glitzy Hopman Cup New Year's Eve Ball early on Monday night to prepare for her opening match but looked out of sorts on the quick, indoor court.

Both players struggled to hold serve throughout the match -- Clijsters was broken seven times in total -- and the Belgian's groundstrokes were misfiring badly.

Schiavone won the opening set, her first against the 18-year-old Clijsters, with a searing ace on her first set point.

Watched by boyfriend and men's world number one Lleyton Hewitt, Clijsters mounted a spirited comeback in the second set but still struggled to hold serve.

The 31st-ranked Schiavone bounced back from 3-1 down in the second set with three breaks of serve before serving out for victory