Andy Murray and Heather Watson keep Hopman Cup hopes alive with victory over Germany

Andy Murray and Heather Watson both registered singles wins before teaming up for doubles success against Germany on Thursday (7 January) to give them a fighting chance of remaining in the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia.

Great Britain still need France to stop Australia in Friday's evening session to stand a chance of progressing to Saturday's final, but Murray and Watson gave them a fighting chance with a 3-0 whitewash of their German opponents.

Watson, 23, bested Sabine Lisicki 6-3 6-4 before Murray clinched a 6-3 6-4 victory over Alexander Zverev. Needing a 3-0 win to stand any chance of continuing their campaign in Perth, the duo teamed up to seal a 6-3 6-4 victory in the mixed doubles.

World no. 5 Watson said: "Today was, I am not going to say some of the best tennis I have played because the rallies were really short, but I feel like I have definitely got better. Today, just when I was warming up before the match I knew I was feeling great in all aspects of my game."

Murray added: "I moved a bit better today, I hit the ball a little bit cleaner from the back of the court, which was good. Not so much maybe at the end of the match, a few sloppy points in the 5-2 game and then obviously when it's 5-4 then you want to finish the match and there are a few nerves, so I should have done a little bit better there, but the rest of the match was decent."

Elsewhere in British tennis, British no, 3 Kyle Edmund has been eliminated from the Qatar Open at the quarter-final stage, losing 6-3 6-2 to world no. 6 Tomas Berdych.