South Africa Wins Hopman Cup

January 3, 2000 / 8:06 PM EST / CBS/AP

South Africa, making its eighth attempt, won the Hopman Cup when it defeated surprise finalist Thailand in a thrilling championship Saturday in the mixed teams tennis tournament.

Amanda Coetzer, partnering with Wayne Ferreira for the fifth time, held off a challenge from Tamarine Tanasugarn to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, and then Ferreira resisted two set points to overcome Paradorn Srichiphan 7-6 (14-12), 6-3.

Tanasugarn, who had already defeated four players with a higher ranking this week, had Coetzer on the ropes after taking the first set and building a 3-0 lead with two breaks of serve in the second.

"She made me feel uncomfortable and I couldn't execute very well," Coetzer said. "I didn't know what to do at the start."

Knowing South Africa had an opportunity to win the title after finishing as runner-up to the United States three years ago, Ferreira was in stunning form against Srichiphan.

The experienced South African held all seven games on his serve, and outside of the tiebreaker dropped just nine points on his serve.

Although Srichiphan used his own firepower to keep himself in contention, the turning point came in the dramatic 26-point tiebreak. Srichiphan was unable to convert two set points, and Ferreira eventually claimed the opening set on his sixth set point.

Despite their defeat, Tanasugarn and Srichiphan have been elevated to superstar status in Thailand. The march of Paradorn and Tamarine through qualifying by knocking off the sport's giants to reach the final is seen as a tennis triumph and has been front-page news all week.

Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai sent his congratulations Friday to the Thai tennis duo and said all of Thailand's 61 million people would be supporting them Saturday.

"It is already historic, in its way," Chuan said. "They have put Thailand into the limelight and are excellent models for Thai children and youth."

Chuan also placed a call to Tamarine on Friday after she defeated Austria's Barbara Schett.