SYDNEY, Dec 31 — Rafa Nadal’s preparations for his Australian Open title defence acquired off to a wobbly start out as Cameron Norrie handed him a 3-6 6-3 6-4 defeat in the United Cup on Saturday to give Britain a 1- guide more than Spain in the combined team tournament.
The 22-occasions Grand Slam winner, who lifted the trophy in Melbourne Park this yr and additional a further French Open title in an if not damage-ravaged year, eased by the 1st set but gifted Norrie a way again into the contest in the future.
Nadal dug himself out of a gap with an ace to maintain for 2-1 in the decider but surrendered his provide shortly soon after as planet amount 14 Norrie bought sharper as the contest wore on and held on for the initial get about the entire world number two in 5 makes an attempt.
“It was rather mad… I was pondering I have in no way gained a established versus him ahead of and I desired to arrive out and to start with do that and I experienced to stay super patient,” Norrie stated in his on-court job interview. “It was a tremendous bodily match.
“I genuinely appreciated it, it was large to get via that one and finally defeat him. It is a excellent way to close the year.”
Norrie credited his pre-year instruction for currently being able to dictate the baseline exchanges at Ken Rosewall Arena.
“I’ve had a actually good off time, performed a great deal of matches and it’s been superior for me. I felt like I was obtaining actually great depth in my photographs and dictated the play… I wasn’t permitting him do much too considerably damage with his forehand,” Norrie additional.
Women’s environment quantity just one Iga Swiatek had no difficulty in her year opener as she dismantled Yulia Putintseva 6-1 6-3 to give Poland a 1- guide in excess of Kazakhstan in Brisbane.
Earlier, Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka claimed the largest gain of his job by breathtaking world selection 12 Alexander Zverev 6-4 6-2, just before Marie Bouzkova beat Jule Niemeier 6-2 7-5 to give her workforce a 2- direct more than Germany.
Actively playing in his initial competitive match considering the fact that surgical procedures to fix his ankle ligaments following an injury at Roland Garros, Zverev seemed small of fitness and struggled on his serve with eight double faults to go down.
Brazil took a 2- guide about Norway as Beatriz Haddad Maia and Felipe Meligeni Alves sealed snug wins. Belgium and Bulgaria had been locked at 1-1. — Reuters