Doubles pair Taylor Dent and Lisa Raymond grabbed the first point for USA at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia, as they defeated Serbia and Montenegro two rubbers to one on Sunday. The fourth seeds kicked-off the day with a shaky start as Raymond slumped to a 6-2, 6-4 defeat to Serbia's 18-year-old Ana Ivanovic, before Dent leveled the tie and served his way past Serbian teenager Novak Djokovic 6-1, 6-4 in less than an hour. The tie was decided in the mixed doubles rubber where the Americans rallied back from a two-game deficit in the first set to clinch the match 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 and register their team's first point in Perth. "It was a blast being out there with Taylor today," 32-year old Raymond was quoted as saying by the Hopman Cup official website. "They (Djokovic and Ivanovic) started off well and we just had to kind of hang in there and I thought that we if just kept grinding away, we'd hopefully just get our nose ahead eventually." Despite her defeat in her singles rubber, Raymond, ranked third in the world doubles rankings, was impressed by Ivanovic's performance on Sunday. The Serbian teenage sensation raced up the world rankings in 2005 ending the season at number 16. "She (Ivanovic) was playing great. I don't know too many players who she wouldn't have beaten in that first set today.' "She is an up and comer and I think today this crowd saw why she is ranked where she is in the world. She has got a great future ahead of her." Serbia are scheduled to face Sweden on Monday as the USA will face-off with top-seeded Russia on Tuesday.
