Rafa Nadal's preparations for his Australian Open title defence got off to a wobbly start as Cameron Norrie handed him a 3-6 6-3 6-4 defeat in the United Cup on Saturday to give Britain a 1-0 lead over Spain in the mixed team tournament.
The 22-times Grand Slam champion, who lifted the trophy in Melbourne Park this year and added another French Open title in an otherwise injury-ravaged season, eased through the first set but gifted Norrie a way back into the contest in the next.
"It was pretty crazy... I was thinking I've never won a set against him before and I wanted to come out and firstly do that and I had to stay super patient," Norrie said in his on-court interview. "It was a super physical match. Norrie credited his pre-season training for being able to dictate the baseline exchanges at Ken Rosewall Arena.
Women's world number one Iga Swiatek had no trouble in her season opener as she dismantled Yulia Putintseva 6-1 6-3 to give Poland a 1-0 lead over Kazakhstan in Brisbane.
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