Hopman Cup: Poland beat USA 2-1 to win title for first time

Poland won the Hopman Cup for the first time with a 2-1 victory over the United States in the final in Perth.

Agnieszka Radwanska beat Serena Williams for the first time in her career in the opening singles, but John Isner levelled it up by overcoming Jerzy Janowicz.

In the deciding mixed doubles, the Poles prevailed in straight sets to win the title for the first time, erasing the memory of last year’s defeat to France in the final.

Radwanska had never beaten Williams in eight previous attempts, but she overcame the world No 1 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-1 in a thrilling opener.

The men’s singles was a battle of two giants, Isner and Janowicz, and the American edged it 7-6 (12-10) 6-4.

But Radwanska – who last year was partnered by Grzegorz Panfil, whose world ranking was in the low 200s at the time – and Janowicz won the decider 7-5 6-3 to lift the cup.

Radwanska’s first victory over Williams comes just weeks after she appointed the great Martina Navratilova as her coach.

The world No 5 goes into this month's Australian Open as one of the favourites, and her victory over Williams has filled her with confidence.

“When I go and play against her, you have nothing really to lose, she is number one in the world and a great champion," Radwanska said.

"It doesn't matter what the score is. It's never over, she's a great fighter. I'm just very happy that I could come back after that second set and play my good game in the third set. Wins like this always give a lot of confidence."

The American's forehand was her downfall, contributing to many of her 28 unforced errors as she was broken twice early on to fall 4-1 behind before losing out 6-4.

The second went with serve as Radwanska pushed and pulled Williams around the court, with the powerful American retaliating by bludgeoning some heavy winners in an even contest.

The Pole, a semi-finalist at the Australian Open last year, then broke Williams to go 6-5 up and serve for the match but she was unable to put the American down as the world No 1 broke back to force a tie-break that she took 7-3.

However, that was as good as it got for Williams as she collapsed in the third to allow Radwanska to claim the morale-boosting win.

Isner made it all square, but did it the hard way. Janowicz held two set points on his serve in the first set tie-break, but clearly felt the pressure and blew one with his first double fault of the match.

He then lost the second with a dreadful missed drop shot, before serving his second double fault to hand Isner the set.

Isner made an early break in the second set and held onto that advantage.

Unfortunately for Williams, who was very inconsistent all tournament, her patchy form continued into the mixed doubles, where her misfiring serve helped the Poles climb back from being a break down in the first set.