Tennis: Nadal beaten again as Swiatek, Tsitsipas cruise at United Cup

SYDNEY – World No. 2 Rafael Nadal slumped to a second-straight defeat at the United Cup on Monday in a setback to his Australian Open preparations, but Stefanos Tsitsipas and Iga Swiatek were both on song.

There was also more misery for former world No. 2 Alexander Zverev, who, like Nadal, suffered a second loss to start his season, this time at the hands of Taylor Fritz.

Nadal surprisingly crashed in his season-opening match on Saturday to 14th-ranked Cameron Norrie. On Monday, the 22-time Grand Slam winner again succumbed after winning the first set, going down 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 to Australia’s 24th-ranked Alex de Minaur in Sydney, including losing six games in a row in the second set.

“Honestly, I couldn’t be happier that I managed to get my first win over Rafa on this court, it’s no secret this is my favourite court in the world,” said de Minaur. “Rafa is a hell of a competitor and what he has been able to do for this sport is truly astounding, so I’m just honoured. It’s a dream come true.”

It went with serve to 2-2 in the first set, but Nadal played some loose shots and a double fault handed de Minaur a break point, then he sent a forehand long to go 2-3 behind.

But the Australian couldn’t sustain the pressure and Nadal broke straight back.

After a slow start, the Spaniard found his groove and in a devastating burst won the next three games to take the set.

De Minaur appeared deflated and was broken again on his first serve of the second set, but he flicked a switch to reel off six games in a row to leave Nadal stunned.

They exchanged breaks in the third set before a string of unforced errors from Nadal allowed de Minaur to break again for 6-5 and serve out for the win.

The Spaniard, 36, insisted that he was not too alarmed with another defeat, adding: “There is room to improve. I really believe I can do it.”

The mixed-team tournament features 18 countries playing in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

The winners of the two groups in each city advance to a city final on Wednesday, with whoever coming through that making the final four. Neither Spain nor Australia can progress from Group D in Sydney, with Norrie’s Britain already the confirmed winner.

They will play the United States in the city final after Fritz and Madison Keys put their country through against Germany. World No. 9 Fritz beat Zverev 6-1, 6-4.

It followed the German’s loss to 81st-ranked Czech Jiri Lehecka on Saturday in his first competitive match since tearing three right ankle ligaments during his French Open semi-final against Nadal in June.

“It was tough to judge my level because I feel he’s coming back from injury, he’s a bit rusty, he was giving me a lot of free points,” said Fritz, who had a breakthrough year in 2022 with titles at Indian Wells, Tokyo and Eastbourne. “But I’m really happy with it.”

Keys swept past Jule Niemeier 6-2, 6-3.

World No. 1 Swiatek gave Poland a 1-0 lead against Switzerland in a winner-takes-all tie that will decide Group B in Brisbane, beating Belinda Bencic 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).

“I’m a perfectionist, but I’m super happy with my performance today,” said Swiatek. “On this fast surface it was really, really hard so I’m really happy that I could close it.”

Italy need a win against eliminated Norway in Group E to advance at Brazil’s expense with Martina Trevisan delivering them an early lead by dispatching Malene Helgo 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.

In Perth, Belgium need to defeat Greece at least 4-1 to qualify from Group A and Alison van Uytvanck held off an inspired Despina Papamichail 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 to give them a 1-0 lead.

But world No. 4 Tsitsipas continued his good form with a 6-3, 6-2 win over David Goffin to level the tie. “Playing David is never easy,” Tsitsipas said. “I was relaxed and hung in there point after point.”

Elsewhere, Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin stunned second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the first round of the season-opening Adelaide International on Monday as Novak Djokovic

was given a hero’s welcome in a rare doubles appearance.

On a day of upsets, world No. 11 Holger Rune also crashed out after losing Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, as did women’s third seed Daria Kasatkina and fifth seed Danielle Collins.

Canada’s Auger-Aliassime was in top form towards the end of 2022, winning three tournaments in October and November before leading Canada to Davis Cup glory when they beat Australia in the final.

He rose to No. 6 in the world and said before the tournament he wanted to ride the wave of momentum into the 2023 season.

But he came unstuck against Popyrin, who dropped out of the top 100 last year, slumping 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

“I had a really, really tough season last year,” Popyrin said.

“So to come out in my first main draw match of the year and beat a player of his quality, it just shows that the work I did in the off-season is paying off.”

Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka downed fifth seed Rune – the ATP Newcomer of the Year in 2022 after claiming three titles – in three sets.

Rune, 19, won the first set comfortably but his serve went off the boil and Nishioka came back to win the next two and take the match 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Djokovic played his first match in Australia in almost two years as the Serb and Canada’s Vasek Pospisil lost 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 to Tomislav Brkic and Gonzalo Escobar, but enjoyed overwhelming crowd support.

In 2022, the Serb was deported and banned from re-entering the country for three years as he was not vaccinated against Covid-19. But, in November, the ban was overturned and he will be eyeing his 10th Australian Open singles title later in January. AFP