(January 1, 2013) The United States rallied for a 2-1 victory past France on Tuesday for second straight win in the Hopman Cup mixed teams competition in Perth. Venus Williams and John Isner won the mixed doubles rubber 6-7 (5), 6-2, 10-8, winning the last seven points in the match tiebreaker.

France was victorious in the opening singles when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dominated Isner 6-3, 6-2. Williams evened up the tie coming back to defeat Mathilde Johansson 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Williams said of the comeback, “I was just thinking: ‘ man I’ve got to work on my game, the Australian Open is coming up’ so I didn’t want to let my team down. I always believe in myself so that’s the first thing, and if that’s the only thing you can do on a court is believe, that goes a long way.”

Williams, who appeared to be playing with some discomfort, said that she was “OK.”

“She hits the ball hard and low and I’m tall so it was hard to get down that low all the time. I have to give her a lot of credit for a tough match.”

Isner who has lost both of his singles matches in Perth, had his knee wrapped due to what he described as “a little tendinitis.”

“Normally, it takes me a while to get going,” Isner said. “I’m not worried about it though. I remember three years ago when I first played this event I didn’t play so well here but I won the next tournament.

“It certainly wasn’t my best. I was missing shots I would have liked to have made. I’m not freaking out about it.”

“It’s never easy against John,” Tsonga said. “So I’m happy with the way I played tonight.

“It’s a really good start for 2013 and I hope I will have some more like this. I was a bit quicker on court than before so I think it’s a good sign for the rest of the competition and for Melbourne.”

On Wednesday, Italy plays Germany and Australia faces Serbia in continuing Hopman Cup competition.