Alcaraz and Masarova, overwhelmed by Goffin and Mertens, give Belgium the win and force Spain to sweep Croatia at the Hopman Cup

Spain and Belgium met for the third time this Friday to see which team would win the overall victory in the Hopman Cup with the mixed doubles match. The protagonists of the two previous singles duels met: Carlos Alcaraz and Rebeka Masarova against David Goffin and Elise Mertens.

The Belgians were obliged to win this match if they did not want to be mathematically eliminated after their opening defeat against Croatia. The Spaniards, on the other hand, had to win to avoid having to go into the match against the Croatians themselves with all the pressure on them. In the end, the victory went to Goffin and Mertens 6-3, 6-1, forcing Spain to win 3-0 against Croatia this Saturday.

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In the first set, Alcaraz's lack of experience in doubles began to show. This match was only the seventh in his short career in this discipline. The Belgian pair started off strong with an initial 2-0 lead, although they would later give up their serve to make it 2-2. In fact, on both sides of the court nobody was able to reach a consistent level, and only in the first set there were six breaks, the last of them achieved by Goffin and Mertens, when they were leading Alcaraz and Masarova by 5-3, to take the first set.

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In the second set, the Spanish pair had to win to avoid losing the overall result against Belgium. Although they had three break points in the first game, they failed to materialize any of them. The tie did not last, as the Belgian pair proved to be much stronger and chained two consecutive games, with one more break, to take a 4-1 lead.

The situation was already quite complicated for Alcaraz and Masarova, who also gave up their serve again to be 5-1 down, and with Goffin and Masarova with the opportunity to win the match serving. The Belgians would not fail and would end up taking the set 6-1 and the match without too much demand.