PERTH, Jan 8: Slovakia clinched the Hopman Cup for the second time when they crushed Argentina 3-0 in Saturday's final.

Daniela Hantuchova and Dominik Hrbaty had given Slovakia an unassailable 2-0 lead before they won the final mixed doubles via a walkover because of Guillermo Coria's sore back.

Former world number five Hantuchova recovered from a terrible start to beat Gisela Dulko 1-6 6-4 6-4 and put the third seeds ahead.

Hrbaty, who had not lost a set in his three singles matches in the group stages, then upset world number seven Coria 6-4 6-1 to help erase the memories of 2004 when the Slovaks lost to the United States in the final.

World number 14 Hrbaty was in imperious form as he sauntered past Coria in just 58 minutes.

The Argentine struggled with a sore back in the second set but Hrbaty showed no mercy in wrapping up victory with another backhand winner.

World number 31 Hantuchova, ranked two places above Dulko, had won two of her three matches in the run-up to the final but looked nervous as she dropped the first four games of the match.

Dulko, who had lost all three of her singles matches in the group stages, grew in confidence and took the first set in just 27 minutes before Hantuchova hit back in a second set littered with breaks to draw level.

Dulko had an early chance to break in the second game of the deciding set, but the contest stayed with serve until the seventh game when a double fault from the Argentine gave Hantuchova the vital break.

With Coria nursing his back, the walkover completed a 3-0 win, although Hrbaty and Hantuchova beat Dulko and her brother Alejandro 8-4 in an exhibition pro set.

Slovakia won the Cup on their first appearance in 1998, when Karol Kucera and Karina Habsudova led them to victory over France.

Results:

Slovakia bt Argentina 3-0

Results (Slovakian names first): Daniela Hantuchova bt Gisela Dulko 1-6 6-4 6-4 Dominik Hrbaty bt Guillermo Coria 6-4 6-1 Hrbaty/Hantuchova bt Coria/Dulko (walkover)

Dent meetS Johansson

MELBOURNE: American Taylor Dent reached the final of the Australian hardcourt championship with a crushing 6-1 6-1 victory over Juan Ignacio Chela on Saturday.

Dent will meet Sweden's Joachim Johansson in the final in Adelaide after second seed Johansson survived a tense tiebreak to defeat Belgium's Olivier Rochus 6-1 7-6 in their semi-final.

Fifth seed Dent, who knocked out tournament top seed and home town favourite Lleyton Hewitt in Friday's quarter-finals, demolished Argentine fourth seed Chela with some powerful strokes.

World number 11 Johansson, the boyfriend of Hewitt's sister Jaslyn, received strong crowd support on Saturday.

Rochus was leading 5-4 in the second set tiebreak but his concentration was ruffled by a disputed line call and the match slipped away.

The Adelaide tournament is a warm-up for the Australian Open starting in Melbourne on Jan 17.

Semifinal results:

Joachim Johansson (Sweden) bt Olivier Rochus (Belgium) 6-1 7-6 (7-5); Taylor Dent (U.S.) bt Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 6-1 6-1.

Schnyder triumphs

MELBOURNE (Australia): Switzerland's Patty Schnyder won her ninth WTA singles title on Saturday, outlasting young Australian Samantha Stosur 1-6 6-3 7-5 in a tense final lasting almost two hours.

The 20-year-old Stosur, playing in her first WTA final and in front a vocal home crowd, saved two match points before left-hander Schnyder produced a thumping first serve which the Australian failed to get back into play.

Second seed Schynder has used the Gold Coast tournament as a warm-up for the Jan 17-30 Australian Open in Melbourne, where she was a semifinalist last year.

Srebotnik wins

WELLINGTON: Unseeded Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia pushed through the pain barrier to beat fourth-seeded Shinobu Asagoe of Japan 5-7 7-5 6-4 in Saturday's final of the Auckland WTA Classic.

Srebotnik had upset France's fifth seed Marion Bartoli 7-5 2-6 7-5 in their 2-1/2-hour semi-final earlier in the day. Asagoe also played her semi-final on Saturday, downing the top seed American Amy Frazier 7-6 6-4.

The 23-year-old Srebotnik looked in a hopeless position when she lost the opening four games of the second set, then had treatment for a thigh injury. She rallied to win the set and went on to complete her third WTA career victory.

The Auckland tournament, which was interrupted by rain earlier in the week, is a warm-up for the Australian Open starting on Jan 17 in Melbourne.

Results :

Semifinals Shinobu Asagoe (Japan) bt Amy Frazier (U.S.) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4; Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) bt Marion Bartoli (France)7-5 2-6 7-5.

Final Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) bt Shinobu Asagoe (Japan) 5-7 7-5 6-4

Chennai Open

CHENNAI (India): Results of semifinal matches at the $400,000 Chennai Open ATP tournament on Saturday.

Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) bt Tomas Zib (Czech Republic) 7-6 (7-5) 6-3; Carlos Moya (Spain) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 6-4 2-6 7-6 (7-2).

FEDERER LIFTS CROWN

DOHA: World's top rank player Switzerland'sRoger Federer won the 1,000,000-dollar Qatar Open title on Saturday.

Federer playing flawless tennis overwhelmed Croatian Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets in a one-sided final.

Results (final)

Roger Federer (SWI) bt Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) 6-3, 6-1.-Agencies