TEAM USA ADVANCES TO HOPMAN CUP FINAL

Team USA remains on track to capture a record seventh Hopman Cup title after coasting through the round-robin group stage to advance to the final.

The American duo of CoCo Vandeweghe and Jack Sock has been in fine form all week in Perth, leading the U.S. to a 3-0 record in the group stage and claiming victories in eight of nine individual matches.

The Hopman Cup format sees two players from each country play three matches – women’s singles, men’s singles and mixed doubles. The U.S. pairing of Vandeweghe and Sock swept Spain and the Czech Republic, 3-0 each, and were already assured of winning Group B and earning a spot in the final before toppling defending champions Australia, 2-1, in its final round-robin match.

The U.S. has won the Hopman Cup six times, most recently when John Isner and Bethanie Mattek-Sands lifted the trophy in 2011. In 2015, Isner and Serena Williams played for the championship, falling to first-time winners Poland, which was led by Agnieszka Radwanska and Jerzy Janowicz.

This year, Sock, ranked No. 23 in the world, and Vandeweghe, ranked 36th, will play either Switzerland or France in Saturday’s final, depending on the outcome of the final Group A match between those two countries.

Team USA has never faced France, which won it all in 2014 and finished second in 2012, in the Hopman Cup final before. The U.S. lost its only previous finals meeting with Switzerland in 2001 when the pairing of Monica Seles and Jan-Michael Gambill lost to Martina Hingis and Roger Federer.

America will look to go one better this time around with its first-time Hopman Cup pairing of Sock and Vandeweghe, who are each coming off big seasons.

In 2016, Vandeweghe won her second career singles title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and her first women’s doubles title in Indian Wells. The Hopman Cup debutant also reached the final of the US Open mixed doubles and represented the U.S. on both the Fed Cup and Olympic teams.

Sock, who played Hopman Cup last year, reached a career-best No. 22 in the rankings in 2016, won a gold and bronze medal at the Olympics in Rio and helped Team USA reach the Davis Cup quarterfinals.

The U.S. is one of only two countries – host nation Australia is the other – to have contested every Hopman Cup since its introduction in 1989.

Chanda Rubin and Justin Gimelstob helped the U.S. defeat South Africa for its first title in 1997, and James Blake partnered with Williams and Lindsay Davenport to help Team USA to back-to-back crowns in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Lisa Raymond and Taylor Dent lifted the cup in 2006, and Williams teamed with Mardy Fish to help secure America’s fifth championship in 2008.