Justin Gimelstob and Chanda Rubin scored an upset mixed doubles victory Sunday night to lift the United States to a 2-1 victory over fourth-seeded France on the opening day of the Hopman Cup teams tennis championship.
Rubin downed Mary Pierce 6-4, 6-1 in the opening women's singles and then teamed with late replacement Gimelstob to beat Guy Forget and Pierce 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the decisive doubles.Davis Cup star Forget, troubled by blisters on his left hand, earlier beat Gimelstob 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the men's singles, rallying from a set and a break down.
Gimelstob, a 19-year-old UCLA student from Livingston, N.J., helped the Americans to victory just 12 hours after flying across the world to replace Richey Reneberg, who withdrew from the event because his wife is awaiting their first child.
The jetlagged teen-ager completely dominated Forget for the first set-and-a-half before fading fast.
The tall American, ranked No. 155 in the world, then rallied spectacularly in the doubles, playing with impressive composure and winning points at the net as Pierce failed to hold her serve in the final two sets.
"Toward the end of the singles and early in the doubles I was so fatigued," Gimelstob said. "I just had to hang in there and Chanda taught me how to play mixed as we went along."
Rubin and Gimelstob never had played together before and Gimelstob had no previous experience of mixed doubles.
Rubin, playing only her fifth match since June after undergoing wrist surgery, defeated Pierce in just 67 minutes.
The American won 19 of the last 23 points as Pierce wilted badly. The former Australian Open champion, on the comeback trail after complaining of shoulder problems, lost six of her eight service games.
Rubin then helped lift Gimelstob after the Americans fell behind a set and a break in the doubles.
"I had a great time," she said. "Justin put in an excellent effort considering he only arrived here this morning."
Goran Ivanisevic and Iva Majoli earlier teamed for a 2-1 victory over Australia as Croatia made a winning start to its defense of the title.
Ivanisevic and Majoli beat Australians Mark Philippoussis and Nicole Bradtke 7-5, 7-5 in the decisive mixed doubles.
Majoli beat Bradtke 6-4, 6-3 in the opening women's singles before Philippoussis surprised Ivanisevic 6-2, 6-3 in the men's singles to level the match.
"My serve was falling apart," said Ivanisevic, who played in borrowed tennis shoes after flying into Australia 18 hours earlier - minus his luggage.
Croatia, France, Australia and the United States are contesting Group A of the round-robin event and Switzerland, Germany, Romania and South Africa will contest Group B.
The winning team from each group will advance to the final.
Prize money for the event, which continues through Jan. 4, totals $640,000. The winning pair will collect $176,000.
The Hopman Cup is one of a series of warmup events for the Australian Open, to be played in Melbourne from Jan.13-26.
AUSTRALIAN HARDCOURT
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) - French Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov will be after his third Australian hardcourt tennis championship when the $328,000 event begins Monday.
Kafelnikov faces Swede Mikael Tillstrom in the first round of the ATP Tour event, one of a series of warm-up events for the Australian Open.
Kafelnikov won in Adelaide in 1994 and again this year at the start of a season that saw him go on to win his first Grand Slam title and rise to No. 3 in the world rankings.
"I use this tournament to measure my year," he said. "If I play well here, I know the rest of my year is going to be OK.
"It's where it all started for me. I came here with nothing and won my first tournament and I won it again this year. Adelaide has been very good for me."
Kafelnikov said his confidence has been lifted by his victory in the French Open.
"It feels good to be able to say I've won a Grand Slam," he said. "It means I haven't wasted my life trying to achieve something I couldn't. It means I have something I have worked all my life to achieve.
"In the future I can maybe win more Grand Slams. At the moment, I'm proud of myself and what I have done."
Kafelnikov, 22, is the top seed, ahead of Australian left-hander Mark Woodforde, a 31-year-old who is coming off the best year of his career.
Woodforde, who won $1.6 million in 1996, will face his Australian Davis Cup teammate Richard Fromberg in his first-round match.
Woodforde, ranked 27th, believes he is capable of regaining a top 20 spot in singles over the next 12 months.
"I feel like I'm still improving," he said. "That is a great encouragement for someone of my age."
Kafelnikov, Woodforde and Sweden's Nicklas Kulti are among three former title holders in the Adelaide event. Kulti plays his Davis Cup teammate Jonas Bjorkmann in the first round.
Third seed Andrei Medvedev from Ukraine opens up against American Jonathan Stark, while Woodforde's doubles partner, Todd Woodbridge, seeded fourth, plays Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic.
Australian Davis Cup player Jason Stoltenberg (right wrist), Briton Greg Rusedski (blisters) and American Vince Spadea (back) all have withdrawn from the tournament with ailments.
The tournament, which will be played on the same Rebound Ace courts used for the Australian Open, continues through Jan. 5. The Australian Open starts Jan. 13 at the National Tennis Center in Melbourne.