Philippoussis injury hands France victory

PERTH, Jan 2 (Reuters) Australia's Mark Philippoussis retired with a knee injury in his Hopman Cup match against Jerome Haehnel to hand France victory in their Group A encounter today.

The 30-year-old, who had surgery three times on his left knee between 1999 and 2001, pulled up and clutched his right knee after chasing a wide ball to his backhand at deuce in the fourth game and received extensive courtside treatment.

He was clearly in pain and his movements severely restricted as he lost the fifth game on his serve to love and left a packed house at the Burswood Dome disappointed when he quit at 4-1 down.

Tournament director Paul McNamee confirmed Philippoussis would take no further part in the event and would be replaced by Nathan Healey for Thursday's final group match against the US.

''He's struggling, he spent a lot of time with the doctor and came to the inevitable conclusion he cannot continue,'' McNamee told reporters.

''They are not exactly sure what it is whether it's ligament, cartilage or joint. They're not 100 percent sure until they get the full MRI. He's shattered.'' Philippoussis had been hoping for a solid performance this week to earn a wildcard for the Australian Open starting on Jan 15, but he seems certain now to miss the year's opening grand slam in his home town of Melbourne.

RANKING SLUMP The former US Open and Wimbledon finalist's world ranking slumped to 205 in February 2005 after further surgery on his groin but he recovered to end 2006 as the number 114 after taking the title at Newport, Rhode Island in July.

It was the third time Philippoussis had withdrawn from the Hopman Cup, the groin problem curtailing his 2005 bid and shin splint soreness forcing him to retire in the 2000 competition, the year after he had won it with Jelena Dokic.

Earlier, Tatiana Golovin had given France a 1-0 lead after a measured 7-5 6-2 victory over Alicia Molik.

The world number 22 recovered from 3-1 down in the opener to take the first set in 54 minutes before breaks in the first and seventh of the second set helped her wrap up the match in an hour and 22 minutes.

France were awarded a 3-0 victory after a walkover in the mixed doubles and they go into Thursday's final group match against Russia with a 100 per cent record.

The Russians kept alive their chances of a maiden triumph by beating the US 2-1 in Tuesday's first Group A contest.

Dmitry Tursunov and Nadia Petrova combined to beat Mardy Fish and Ashley Harkleroad 6-3 7-5 in the mixed doubles to claim their first win of the mixed team competition.

FLYING FISH World number six Petrova swept past Harkleroad 6-3 6-0 in the opening singles before Fish kept the tie alive with an impressive 6-1 6-4 triumph over world number 22 Tursunov.

The Americans, who can no longer make Friday's final, were kept in the tie with a fine performance from Fish in the men's singles rubber.

The world number 47 served superbly, firing 13 aces, to down Tursunov in just 58 minutes.

''I played really well today and I am really excited about that,'' said Fish, whose ace tally came without a double fault.

REUTERS PDS VV1944