Perth, Australia - German Nicolas Kiefer was rushed to hospital for treatment of an ankle injury suffered as the Slovak Republic backed into a fifth final at the Hopman Cup teams event on Thursday.

The 31-year-old fell victim to the worst possible luck as he suffered a freak mishap while leading Slovakia's Domink Hrbaty 3-1.

The Europeans, winners in 2005, earned their Friday title shot 2-0 after teenager Dominika Cibulkova had beaten Sabine Lisicki of Germany 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 to start the tie.

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.

"I was able to run a week after my injury when it was treated like that.

"That was really bad luck," he said of Kiefer's mishap. "His body motion didn't allow him to put enough power on his leg.

"I trained with him this week and he was working very hard. Now he doesn't know if he can play the Australian Open."

Host Australia, whose only title came in 1999, were beaten 2-1 by the US with James Blake and Meghann Shaughnessy.

Lleyton Hewitt suffered with an inner ear problem he said he picked up after a swim in the hotel pool, losing 6-2, 6-2 to Blake.

"I couldn't hear the ball properly and pick up on the sound," said the one-time number one ranked 71st and returning from August hip surgery.

"I'll be fine next week, but I was it unlucky today. I had two tough group matches and I got exactly what I wanted this week.

"It's disappointing not to make the final, but I'll move onto Sydney and then the Open."

Local heroine Casey Dellacqua won her first match of the event after two defeats, stopping Shaughnessy - returning from a knee injury which kept her out for almost all of last season - 6-3, 6-4.

"It's tough not to be able to have helped Lleyton more this week, but I'm happy to have a win and I'm gaining confidence for the Open," Dellacqua said.

"I tried to take as many positives as I could from the last singles win." (dpa)