Rafa Nadal was unable to start a new season with victory after losing to Cameron Norrie in Spain’s opening duel against Great Britain in the first edition of the United Cup, the new mixed team tournament that takes place from December 29 to January 8 as a prelude to the first Grand Slam of the year.
In a meeting that lasted up to two hours and 44 minutes, the Spaniard yielded to Norris, more shot, 3-6, 6-3 and 6-4. And that the world number 2, who had not played since the beginning of December when his exhibition tour of Latin America concluded, had quickly gotten back on track in the first set, in which he displayed good tennis, a game against which Norris did not know how to take advantage of the few chances. that he had to break the rival rhythm. Thus the Spaniard prevailed in the initial set by 3-6.
The second sleeve, however, turned out differently. Nadal was more erratic on the court and Norris took advantage of that to equalize the match, taking a set for the first time (6-3) against the Spanish after 12 attempts. Both players had met four times before this United Cup and the world number 2 had always tipped the balance in his favor without his rival being able to score any set: the last one, in the final of the Acapulco tournament. from last year
In the third set, The Spaniard, who began to suffer less filming than his rival, started with two consecutive double faults, although that did not prevent him from scoring the first game of the final set. But Norris, very aggressive with the right, had his first break point at 1-1 on the scoreboard, although Rafa was able to save it and take the lead at 2-1.
However, the reigning Australian Open champion He could not find himself comfortable against the British, very solid with his serve, who signed the second break opportunity he had to go ahead with 3-2. From that moment, Nadal was in tow and, although he had several break balls with 4-3 against, he could not resolve them in his favor.
Norris barely made any mistakes with his forehand and Nadal failed to reverse his rival’s break, who also ended up taking the third set at 6-4 to give Great Britain its first point in this United Cup.
