Novak Djokovic and Jelena Jankovic have given Serbia a winning start in the Hopman Cup with a 3-0 victory over Taiwan.
World number threes off and running in Perth
Serbia have made a winning start to their Hopman Cup campaign, with Novak Djokovic and Jelena Jankovic giving the top seeds a 3-0 victory over Taiwan in Australia on Sunday.
World number three Jankovic scored a 6-4 6-4 victory over Hsieh Su-wei - ranked 154 places lower - while Djokovic, also ranked number three, found the going rather tougher before eventually prevailing 7-5 2-6 6-3 against the 110th-ranked Lu Yen-hsun.
The pair then linked up to win the mixed doubles 3-6 6-2 10-8.
Later, France opened their own bid for the title with a 2-1 win over Argentina in Sunday's second Group A match.
Following nose surgery in November and only returning to the practice courts a fortnight ago, Jankovic looked very rusty early on against an opponent who usually plays on the ITF circuit, a level below the main WTA Tour.
Errors
Hsieh forced Jankovic into making a number of errors but the Serb's greater experience saw her through.
"It was my first match of the year, after two months off (and I had surgery), I didn't expect myself to play my best tennis but I really enjoyed myself and am happy with the win," Jankovic later said.
"I'm actually not that happy with the way I played but I will try to get my rhythm again."
Meanwhile, after Djokovic had won a tight opening set, he needed to dig even deeper to overcome Lu, who proceeded to play some superb tennis to level the match at one set apiece.
Djokovic needed treatment on his lower back early in the second set but subsequently recovered sufficiently to take both the decider and victory in two hours and 34 minutes.
Superb
After the two countries had shared the spoils in their singles rubbers, France owed their win over Argentina to a superb mixed doubles performance from Arnaud Clement and Tatiana Golovin.
The pair were dominant throughout as they beat Juan Ignacio Chela and Gisela Dulko 6-3 6-2, with Golovin moved to comment: "Arnaud was helping me out a lot, I owe it all to him."
And yet it was Golovin, ranked a career-high 13th, who put France's first point on the board when she beat Dulko 6-4 6-3.
After struggling in the first set, Dulko had treatment on what seemed to be back injury.
She then broke to lead 2-1 in the second, only for Golovin to fight back and ultimately clinch victory.
"I think we both struggled a bit," Golovin said. "It's really hard to get a rhythm but it's my first match so I will have two days to recover for Novak and Jelena (when they play Serbia).
Chela had put Argentina level with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Clement, pulling away from 3-3 in the first set to secure an ultimately comfortable win prior to France's mixed doubles success.
The winners of each group in the eight-nation mixed team event will meet in Friday's final.
