Australia - Dinara Safina and big brother Marat Safin polished their sibling act to stay in the chase for the Hopman Cup final with a 2-0 win over Taiwan Wednesday night.

The nation fights for a place in the Friday title match-up with a face-off against France on Thursday.

Safina, third in the world, began the run to success as she mounted a comeback to stop Hsieh Su-Wei 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Safin, the two-time Grand Slam finalist who once stood atop the rankings, finished off Lu Yen-Hsun to ice the tie.

Safina followed her brother's more usual example and broke a racket as she rallied her energies. "She played lucky in the first set, I had chances but didn't take them," said the French Open and Olympic finalist.

"It was my mistake that the match went to three sets, but she played a tough match today. I was confident coming, but it was little mistakes here and there.

"Maybe I was missing a bit of concentration. I came in with a good feeling, but I didn't use my weapons so well."

Safin, playing in what he says is his last season, is surprised by his form. "I got inspired by my sister," he confessed.

"Lu is a very complete player, he's smart and fast and good from both sides.

"I had no expectations coming in, with only two weeks of training. I didn't expect at all to win a set, I've had a very impressive performance."

Unbeaten Germany moved into a tie with the equally spotless Slovak Republic for a place in the final after dropping the US 2-1.

The defeat leaves defending champion America with early plane tickets out of town after losing both of its ties.

Germany with veteran Nicolas Kiefer and teenaged talent Sabine Lisicki fought to down the seeds, wrapping up the scoreline with a 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 (match tiebreak) mixed doubles victory.

The US has so far lost five of six rubbers, with Blake notching the lone success for the top seeds as he converted on only one of 19 break points, but compensated with 17 aces in a singles rubber defeat of former number four Kiefer 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (7-9), 6-4.

Lisicki, Germany's top-ranked woman at 56th, remained undefeated with her 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 win over Meghann Shaughnessy.

Shaughnessy, who missed most of the 2008 season after playing the Hopman and then injuring her knee at the Gold Coast, couldn't cope with the on-form game of the youngster.

"I didn't think about her knee, I just focused on my match," said Lisicki. "I was down in both sets, but I played especially well in the second.

"I was up and down in the third, but I won and that is what counts. I'm a fighter and I wanted to win, so things turned out well again today."

Blake recovered poise for the US as he beat Kiefer in a match which featured one break of serve. In the third, Blake rode his margin of the break out to a victory in two and a half hours.

"I came out with a win, I'm really happy," said the American who played a tie last year with Shaughnessy when she replaced the late-arriving Serena Williams on the team. (dpa)