Perth: Nick Kyrgios has expressed confidence in his Hopman Cup partner Daria Gavrilova's ability to rebound from an opening singles loss and the defending champion Australians' quest to qualify for Saturday's final despite Sunday's 2-1 defeat against Spain.
After Kyrgios shone during his 6-3, 6-4 victory against world No.28 Feliciano Lopez, Gavrilova was upstaged 7-5, 6-1 by the 69th-ranked Lara Arrabuarrena. Australia, undefeated in four mixed doubles matches en route to the 2016 title, then fell 4-0, 4-2 in the deciding rubber.
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"Last year we sort of cruised through the whole thing," said Kyrgios. "Maybe this year we've got to have a little bit of adversity and we can come through, so we'll see."
The top-ranked player in the tournament was also ready with reassurance for Gavrilova, who admitted she "didn't play great at all" in her maiden 2017 outing, with at least two more singles matches still to play this week in the round-robin teams event at the Perth Entertainment Centre.
"First match back, she shouldn't be worried at all," said Kyrgios, supportively. "She can play good tennis, so we can easily get through our pool, still."
Earlier, Americans Coco Vandeweghe and Jack Sock had opened the tournament with a 3-0 sweep against a Czech Republic team missing the injured Petra Kvitova. The tie included the debut of the contentious Fast4 scoring system in the mixed, including no-ads and no lets over three first-to-four-game sets.
"If you don't have a good start in doubles, it pretty much runs away pretty quickly, but it just came down to a couple of points," Kyrgios said. "We had our chances to sort-of get back in it, but they played a pretty sound first set. Obviously Feliciano's one of the best doubles players at the moment and she's pretty handy at the net as well, so they're a tough pair I think in mixed doubles."
Gavrilova said the faster pace of the Perth court compared with her training conditions at Melbourne Park had also thrown her slightly off her game, while also acknowledging 24-year-old Arruabarrena.
![Gavrilova and Kyrgios are confident they can still make it through their pool.](/web/20170106111953im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/k/w/i/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtkj0o.png/1483502161424.jpg)
"She's playing really well - wasn't ready for her to play that well, to be honest," said Gavrilova, who lost her first three singles matches in Perth last year before reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open. "I wasn't winning matches at the Hopman Cup last year either... I mean, it's my first match, so not too worried about my form."
Australia are scheduled to meet the Czech Republic on Tuesday, with Roger Federer's Switzerland headlining Monday night's session against Britain.