Switzerland won their third Hopman Cup as Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic beat Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber 4-3 (3), 4-2 in the deciding mixed doubles, to secure a 2-1 victory in Perth.

It was Federer’s second Hopman Cup triumph after victory in 2001 alongside Martina Hingis. “She [Hingis] had a great career and to have that in a small country like Switzerland is very rare,” the world No2 Federer said after his country’s latest triumph. “It made me also believe with hard work and dedication you get really far, because I didn’t believe that much at that point, when I was younger; I thought it was more all talent.”

Federer fought back from a set down to beat Zverev 6-7 (4), 6-0, 6-2 and give the Swiss a 1-0 lead. Unbeaten in three singles matches in the tournament before the final as he prepares to defend his Australian Open title, the 19-times grand slam champion failed to wrap up the first set, despite hitting 20 winners. It was only a matter of time, though, before the 36-year-old found his groove as he raced to win the second set 6-0, before sealing victory in the decider with a drop shot.

“I was trying to play as aggressively as possible. I’m maybe better when we’re closer together,” Federer said. “The court plays fast, so it helps if you approach [the net] and do it the right way. It was working out well, so I thought I’d keep going until I had to fix it. That never happened, so I was able to cruise all the way through.”

The tie went to a mixed doubles decider after Kerber continued her strong start to the campaign under her new coach, Wim Fissette, by beating Bencic 6-4, 6-1 to level the score at 1-1.

Zverev finished with one singles win from four matches in a patchy preparation ahead of the year’s first grand slam at Melbourne Park, which starts on 15 January.

Elina Svitolina won the Brisbane International title with a 6-2, 6-1 win over the qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich. The Ukrainian world No6, fired 10 aces and never faced a break point on the way to a 10th career tour title.

Svitolina raced to a 3-0 lead before the 23-year-old Belarusian found her range with some lethal backhands and briefly threatened to make it a contest. Svitolina, however, unleashed a series of powerful groundstrokes to break again and clinch the first set, before running away with the second to claim the title in just over an hour. “It was a tough, tough off-season,” the third seed said. “To start with a trophy is always very, very special.”