Dominika Cibulkova

Australia's Hopman Cup title hopes are hanging by a thread after Casey Dellacqua went down in straight sets to the Slovak Republic's Dominika Cibulkova.

World No.19 Cibulkova won 7-5 6-2 in 84 minutes to give the Slovak Republic a 1-0 lead ahead of Lleyton Hewitt's clash with Dominik Hrbaty.

Dellacqua, who made an astonishing 47 unforced errors, served for the opening set at 5-4 up but lost her nerve when it mattered most.

The 23-year-old dropped five straight service games from that point as Cibulkova romped to the win.

Simone Bolelli beat Gilles Simon in straight sets to cancel out France’s advantage, then combined with Flavia Pennetta to guide Italy to a 2-1 Hopman Cup win on Tuesday.

When Alize Cornet gave France a 1-0 lead with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Pennetta in the women’s singles, Italy was only one loss from slumping out of contention in the international mixed team tournament.

Cagey veteran Dominik Hrbaty conjured an upset 3-0 win for the Slovak Republic over defending champions the United States in the mixed teams Hopman Cup here Monday.

The day after his 31st birthday, Hrbaty belied his lowly ranking to stun American James Blake, snatching an enthralling singles encounter in three sets to secure the Group A tie for the Slovaks against the top seeds.

One of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's brightest young talents, Dominika Cibulkova, not only burst into prominence with a string of stellar results in 2008, but now has the Slovak Women's Tennis Player Award 2008 on her resumé.

The tennis off-season, all one and a half months’ worth, is nearly half over. Here’s a look at how some of the pros have been spending their time away from the courts:

Rafael Nadal

Six of the top ten ranked women’s players and five of the men’s top 20 stars are confirmed to play in next month’s Sydney International, organisers yesterday.
 
Nine-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams and world No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be the top seeds for the mixed WTA/ATP tournament from January 11 to 17.
 
Williams headlines a strong women’s field along with other top-tenners Dinara Safina (3), Elena Dementieva (4), Vera Zvonareva (7), Svetlana Kuznetsova (8) and Agnieszka Radwanska (10).
 

Sydney is shaping up as a reunion of the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha.
 
Six of the top 10-ranked women — reigning US Open champion Serena Williams, third-ranked Dinara Safina, fourth-ranked Elena Dementieva, seventh-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova and 10th-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska — have committed to competing in next month's Medibank International at the Sydney Tennis Centre.
 

Six of the top ten ranked women's players and five of the men's top 20 stars are confirmed to play in next month's Sydney International, organisers said on Thursday.
 
Nine-time grand slam winner Serena Williams and world number six Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be the top seeds for the mixed WTA/ATP tournament from January 11 to 17.
 
Williams headlines a strong women's field along with other top-tenners Dinara Safina (3), Elena Dementieva (4), Vera Zvonareva (7), Svetlana Kuznetsova (8) and Agnieszka Radwanska (10).
 

Four top 20 players will take part in the PTT Pattaya Open tennis tournament in February.
 

The WTA tournament has been upgraded to be part of the international series with a minimum purse of US$220,000 (approx 7.7 million baht).

 
As a result, the tournament has attracted a number of stars including Vera Zvonareva of Russia (No 7), Nadia Petrova of Russia (11), Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark (12) and Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova (19).
 

If teen phenoms are nothing new in tennis, 2008 was nonetheless a vintage year for shooting stars on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Five under-20s finished the season in the Top 20; one of them, Agnieszka Radwanska, did even better, making her Top 10 debut in July. It is surely only a matter of time before Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, Alizé Cornet and Dominika Cibulkova join her.