Rafael Nadal suffered a doubles defeat as he returned to the court after nearly a year on the sidelines.
The 22-time grand slam champion, has been out since suffering a hip injury during a second-round contest at the Australian Open in January. Nadal underwent surgery in June and returned to the competitive action at the Brisbane International on Sunday alongside Marc López, who he won Olympic gold with at Rio 2016.
The pair fell to a 6-4, 6-4 defeat to the Australian duo of Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson, but there were some promising signs from the 37-year-old. “It’s great to see Rafa back,” said Thompson. “I’ve been on the receiving end a couple of times in singles, so it’s nice to get him back on a doubles court.”
The 37-year-old Nadal was warmly welcomed by fans who held up Spanish flags and supportive messages while the loudest cheers were reserved for his trademark whipped shots and a powerful crosscourt backhand winner in the opening set. Nadal is likely to get a similar reception in his singles opener on Tuesday against qualifier Dominic Thiem, whom he beat in the 2018 and 2019 French Open finals and holds a 9-6 win-loss record against.
The former women’s world No 1 Naomi Osaka will also make her comeback following maternity break when she meets Tamara Korpatsch on Monday. The 26-year-old from Japan last competed on the tour in September 2022 and welcomed her first child, daughter Shai, in July.
The former US Open champion Sloane Stephens got her campaign off to a good start as she beat Katerina Siniakova 7-5 6-3 while Camila Giorgi survived a scare to get past Peyton Stearns 5-7 6-2 6-3. The Russian 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva also reached the second round with a 6-2 6-3 win over Diana Shnaider.
Boulter records biggest win of career in GB defeat
Great Britain were beaten 2-1 by the United States at the United Cup despite Katie Boulter sealing the biggest win of her career against the world No 5, Jessica Pegula, in Perth.
The second edition of the mixed international team competition is a slimmed-down version, with ties comprising two singles matches and one doubles. The British No 1 Boulter, 51 places below Pegula in the world rankings, defeated the American 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the first match on Sunday, but defeat for Cameron Norrie, and then for Boulter and Neal Skupski in the mixed doubles, meant the defending champions prevailed.
Victory for Britain would have secured their place in the quarter-finals, but all three teams in Group C still stand a chance of progressing ahead of the final pool match between the US and hosts Australia on Monday.
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Pegula looked on course to open the Americans’ title defence with victory, taking six straight games to go a set and 3-0 up. But Boulter hit back to record her first win over a top-five opponent at the seventh attempt. Her previous best was beating then-world No 7, Karolina Pliskova, at Eastbourne and Wimbledon in 2022.
She said: “I felt like I played some really good stuff. I get a lot of confidence from it, I’ve done the work during pre-season and I was very happy with it. I feel like a different player than I was a year ago. I wanted to get some wins by rankings.”
Norrie lost to Taylor Fritz in the second singles match to send the best-of-three tie to the deciding doubles. Fritz triumphed 7-6 (5). 6-4, serving 14 aces to only three by the Briton, who managed just 54% of his first serves.
Boulter and Skupski then got off to a solid start when they faced Pegula and Fritz in the mixed doubles, but the American pair emerged 1-6, 7-6 (4), 10-7 victors.