Rafael Nadal loses in three sets to Britain's Norrie at United Cup

Rafael Nadal has ended an up-and-down 2022 with a 3-6 6-3 6-4 loss to Britain's Cameron Norrie at the United Cup mixed teams tournament on Saturday.

Nadal won the Australian Open and French Open to take his career Grand Slam si ngles total to a leading 22. But foot, rib and abdomen injuries meant he played only four events after Wimbledon in July.

Norrie's win gave Britain a 1-0 lead over Spain.

Norrie failed to win a set in his four previous matches against Nadal.

"It was pretty crazy. I was thinking I'd never won a set before, so I wanted to come out and firstly do that," Norrie said.

"It was a super physical match and I enjoyed it. It's a great way to end 2022 for me."

In other matches, Top-ranked Iga Swiatek gave Poland an early lead over Kazakhstan when she beat Yulia Putintseva 6-1 6-3 at Brisbane.

"First matches of the season are always kind of rusty, so I'm happy that in the important moments I was really composed," Swiatek said.

At Perth, Bulgaria and Belgium were leve