Perth, Australia - Hospital scans have revealed that German Nicolas Kiefer suffered ligament damage during a match injury on Thursday at the Hopman Cup but could still pull up fit for the Australian Open beginning January 19.

Doctors who treated the 31-year-old expressed cautious optimism that the former number four might just be able to make it to the first Grand Slam date of the 2009 season from January 19.

An MRI scan at a local hospital showed that the German suffered damage, but has a good chance of recovery. "He's still a chance for the Australian Open," said Hopman Cup boss Paul McNamee. "That's what he's aiming for."

Kiefer fell victim to the worst possible luck as he suffered his freak mishap while leading Slovakia's Domink Hrbaty 3-1.

Kiefer was watching an Hrbaty return sail out over the baseline when he put his weight wrongly on his ankle, crumbling to the court in agony.

It was the experienced Hrbaty - back from 2008 elbow surgery and also carrying a heavy cold - who directed first aid efforts among apparently confused medical personnel at the venue.

"I told the chair umpire to call for some ice and told the first aid people that they should raise the ankle and use the freezing spray to immobilise it," he said.

"It's happened to me before, I suffered this kind of an injury in the Australian juniors once. If the ankle swells up and you can't move it, that's not good.

"With injuries like this, the most important thing is the first couple of minutes, because you don't want to get swelling there and blood there.

"Then it heals much, much tougher." (dpa)