The prospect of Andy Murray and Laura Robson pairing up in mixed doubles at the Hopman Cup is tantalising enough.

But how the pair perform in their singles matches when they represent Britain at the Perth team tournament in January will surely provide the greater interest.

Murray will be gearing up for an Australian Open title tilt and Robson entering a crucial season for her development as a potential world-class senior.

Aside from an appearance in Britain's Davis Cup defeat by Poland, in which he won both his singles matches despite carrying - and aggravating - a wrist injury, Murray has not played competitively since the US Open in September.

He is due to return to action next week at the Valencia Open, and the break could prove a blessing in disguise for the Scot.

The chance to recover peak physical fitness has come at a time when many of the top men's players are flagging, amid concerns about the packed ATP schedule.

Murray should be in good shape for next month's end-of-season World Tour Finals at London's O2 Arena, and will head to Australia with every reason to be confident about landing his first grand slam - providing he prepares well in December.

Robson went agonisingly close to navigating a path through the qualifying stages for the US Open, winning two matches before losing in the final round on a deciding-set tie-break.

She turns 16 on January 21, and will be hoping 2010 is the year when she begins to make an impact at senior level.

The left-hander was born in Melbourne, host city for the Australian Open, and reached the girls' final this year.

In Perth she may be handed a chance to faces the likes of Russia's Olympic champion singles player Elena Dementieva, or Melanie Oudin, the American who impressed greatly at the US Open and Wimbledon this year.

Oudin is Robson's senior by two full years, but was thrashed by the Briton in the junior tournament at Wimbledon 2008. She has since shown what it takes to make the transition, and Robson will look to follow her example.

Murray believes he and Robson can form a strong team.

He said: "I'm hoping it will be good preparation for the Australian Open.

"Laura is a great talent and it will be good to link up together playing for our country."

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British number four Mel South is bidding to join Anne Keothavong, Elena Baltacha and Katie O'Brien in the world's top 100.

But she did herself no favours on Sunday, when a mix-up after the switch from British Summer Time meant South lost track of time ahead of her AEGON Pro-Series tournament final in Glasgow.

South explains: "I was a bit rushed before my match because I changed the time on my phone to allow for the clocks going back, without realising that the phone did it automatically as well.

"I only realised that when I was checking out of the hotel and my coach called me to ask where I was because I was half an hour late for practice. It meant I only got 10 minutes to warm up when I usually like an hour before matches."

South paid a heavy price, dropping the first set 6-1 to Sweden's Johanna Larsson. South won the next but Larsson's better preparation paid off as she won 6-1 1-6 6-3.

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Venus Williams has done her sisterly duty and plugged Serena's new memoir whenever the chance has arisen lately.

Serena, the younger of the pair, has told her story in the book 'On The Line' - but it emerged this week that Venus has not properly read the tome.

"Well, I've bought her book online and I've bought it on digital," Venus said this week. "I tell people to buy it all the time. But I can't say that I've read it. I've read parts of it."

With some justification, she added: "I kind of feel like I lived it."

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Heather Watson may have won the US Open girls' title last month, but that is no guarantee of senior success.

If the 17-year-old from Guernsey begins to win as a professional, then the leading players on tour will begin to take notice.For now, though, it appears they are not worrying about Watson.

Jelena Jankovic shares an agent with the British teenager, and was asked about Watson this week.

"To be honest, I don't know. Who is she?" Jankovic responded.