A ruthless Lleyton Hewitt overcame a "funky" string pattern and an hour delay to lead Australia to a crushing opening win over Italy in the Hopman Cup in Perth.

Hewitt, who is more obsessed with his strings than any other tennis player, made the best use of an hour's break because of a power failure as he rectified his problems.

Hewitt eventually eased to a 6-3 6-1 victory over injured Italian Davide Sanguinetti.

It handed the home nation an unbeatable lead in the group B match at the mixed teams event in Perth.

The world No.1 backed up his team-mate Alicia Molik's good work in her surprise 6-3 6-4 victory over Silvia Farina Elia.

World No.52 Sanguinetti was always going to be up against it but an ankle injury in the first set ended any chance of a true contest.

A 55-minute break after power was cut from centre court at the Burswood Dome just delayed the inevitable result which came in just over an hour of play.

However, it was not all smooth sailing for Hewitt, who felt like he was playing with a "beach-bat" before the lights went out in the opening match of the second set.

"I couldn't hit a ball, it felt like I couldn't crack an egg out there," he said.

His problems stemmed from his racquet being restrung in an unusual style by the local tournament stringers overnight.

"The stringer put in his own string pattern which I had never seen before - and he's got some funky ideas," Hewitt said.

"Then I couldn't quite explain (how to fix) it and I kept on getting my strings (done) and they still stuffed it up.

"Actually (it was) lucky I came out after the light delay and actually had the right ones done."

Hewitt said it was an awkward match after Sanguinetti went over on his ankle.

"I wasn't sure how bad it was, there was points where he was running his butt off and there was times when I hit drop shots he didn't run for, it is tough in that situation to put an opponent away," he said.

Earlier the lanky Molik unleashed her power game on Italian Silvia Farina Elia with a straight sets victory in 69 minutes.

The 21-year-old showed why her game was so highly-rated and why she was a much more talented player than her world ranking of No.94 suggested.

After being down 3-1 in the opening set Molik found her range and made a mockery of the large gap in the rankings between her and Farina Elia.

Molik had been under pressure heading into the fixture after being picked ahead of Australia's No.1 female player and world No.48 Nicole Pratt.

Molik said she had enjoyed her best preparation for the Australian summer and the first-up win again provided reason for hope.

The South Australian said she had worked hard at increasing the potency of her ground strokes.

"It is something I have been working on hitting the ball a bit heavier .. there is a lot of kick coming off the court so I'm trying to use it to my advantage," she said.

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