Croatian Borna Coric triumphed 6-1, 6-4 over Swiss Leandro Riedi to lead his country to a 2-0 victory and claim the Hopman Cup for mixed teams for the second time on Sunday. Coric's win followed a victory by compatriot Donna Vekic, who defeated Celine Naef 6-3, 6-4, making Croatia the first country to win the title since the tournament returned to the competition calendar after a four-year absence.
Switzerland is one of the most successful nations in this tournament, which began in 1989 and is named after Australian Harry Hopman, having won the title four times, including in 2019, led by the retired legend Roger Federer. Switzerland missed its star player Belinda Bencic, who withdrew from the lineup. The young team secured two wins against Denmark and France to top Group A but failed to keep up with Croatia in the final on the clay courts of Nice.
Coric, ranked 15th in the world, won the first set in 31 minutes and recovered after losing his serve in the second set to secure the match and shatter Swiss hearts. Earlier, Vekic exchanged breaks with her opponent Naef at the beginning of the match before the world number 22 used her experience to break Naef's serve in the eighth game to win the set. Vekic displayed great patience and skill in the second set to clinch the victory and give her country the lead.
Croatia previously won the title in 1996 when they defeated the same opponent in the final on hard courts in Perth, thanks to Goran Ivanisevic and Iva Majoli.
