United Cup: Norrie Stuns Nadal To Give Britain Lead

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.

Nadal dug himself out of a hole with an ace to hold for 2-1 in the decider but surrendered his serve shortly after as world number 14 Norrie got sharper as the contest wore on and held on for the first win over the world number two in five attempts.

“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, It was a super physical match.” Norrie said in his on-court interview. 

Reuters /Samuel Isaiah