Hopman Cup: Croatia end long wait for second title as Borna Coric and Donna Vekic beat Switzerland in final

Croatia won the Hopman Cup for the first time in 27 years after Donna Vekic and Borna Coric sealed singles victories to beat Switzerland 2-0 in the final.

Vekic ousted Celine Naef 6-3 6-4 to put her country one win from victory, and Coric rose to the task by seeing off Leandro Riedi 6-1 6-4.

The Hopman Cup, returning in 2023 after a four-year absence, pitted six national teams made up of one male and one female player against each other in two round-robin sections, before a final between the two group winners.

Swiss pair Naef and Riedi were the lowest-ranked players at the tournament, at world No. 157 and world No. 160 respectively, but they battled past France and Denmark to reach the final.

They avoided any upsets as world No. 22 Vekic secured a straight-sets victory to put her country one win from the trophy in Nice.

Coric, ranked 15th in the world, followed suit with a two-set win that took 79 minutes to wrap up the 2-0 victory without the need for a deciding mixed doubles.

It marked a first Croatian triumph at the event since 1996, when they also defeated Switzerland – Iva Majoli and Goran Ivanisevic teaming up to defeat Martina Hingis and Marc Rosset 2-1 on that occasion.

The Swiss were aiming for a third consecutive tournament win after the combination of Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic sealed back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019.

Croatia join France, Australia and Germany in the ranks of two-time winners.

The United States are the most successful Hopman Cup nation with six wins, most recently in 2011, while Spain (4), Switzerland (4), Slovakia (3) and the Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia (3) are next in the all-time honours list.