Croatia's Borna Coric and Donna Vekic win first edition of revived Hopman Cup

FLASHBACK: In the semifinals, Croatia beat Spain thanks in part to Donna Vekic's win over Rebeka Masarova.

The Hopman Cup is back on the tennis calendar, and Croatia is back in the winner's circle.

Borna Coric and Donna Vekic clinched the first title for their country in the competition in nearly 30 years with a 2-0 win over Switzerland in Sunday's final. Coric clinched the win with a 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Leandro Riedi, which followed Vekic's 6-3, 6-4 win over Celine Naef.

Croatia previously won the title in 1996 on the back of Goran Ivanisevic and Iva Majoli. Behind the efforts of Belinda Bencic and Roger Federer, Switzerland was the winner in 2018 and 2019, the latter being the competition's last edition in Perth, Australia and before its return this year in Nice, France.

The pair of Coric and Vekic went 2-0 in round-robin Group B, beating both Belgium and Spain 2-1 in deciding mixed doubles matches.

For their place in the final, Coric and Vekic beat Carlos Alcaraz and Rebeka Masarova in a thrilling 1-6, 6-4, 14-12 mixed doubles match; in the third-set tiebreak, they saved a match point.

"When we came here, we were both not playing our best tennis, and we never played mixed doubles," Coric said Sunday in their victory speech. "We were not sure how it was going to play out, but we were very happy that we were playing, and it was my pleasure to be here with [her]."

Against Riedi, Coric trailed 4-2 in the second set of the clinching match before winning the last four games to win the match, and the trophy.

"Borna, it was really a lot of fun playing with you," Vekic added. "We've known each other for almost 20 years, and we've never played doubles before now. So far, we're unbeaten. I'm a little bit sad we didn't have another chance today!"

Majoli was fittingly on hand at the Nice Lawn Tennis Club to present Coric and Vekic with the trophy.