Switzerland's Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic captured the Hopman Cup title for a second year in a row on Saturday night, edging Germany's Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber in a deciding mixed doubles match—and in a single deciding point—to seal victory at the team exhibition event.
The championship tie kicked off with Federer beating Zverev in the men's singles, 6-4, 6-2, a little bit of revenge for a semifinal loss to the German in the semifinals of the ATP Finals last November.
Kerber then followed with a tighter 6-4, 7-6 (6) win over Bencic in the women's singles, though it could have ended much earlier—the German originally led 6-4 5-3 and served for the match twice at 5-4 and 6-5 in the second set, and even had double match point earlier in the tie-break leading 6-4.
Federer and Bencic clinched the title in the mixed doubles, 4-0, 1-4, 4-3 (5-4), and it couldn't have had a closer finish. In the short sets format there's a winner-takes-all point if it's tied at 4-4 in the third set tie-break, and with a single Zverev shot into the net off a Bencic volley, the Swiss sealed victory.
It was Federer's third Hopman Cup title, which is more than any other player - male or female—in the history of the exhibition event. He'd won it in 2001 with Martina Hingis and last year with Bencic too.
"I'm very happy about these records, but I didn't come here for that," Federer told HopmanCup.com.
Federer leaves the Hopman Cup with a 4-0 record in singles and will kick off his Australian Open campaign in little over a week. He's won the title there two years in a row (and six times overall).