Spain's Rafael Nadal returns to Austria's Dominic Thiem during their match at the Brisbane International in Australia on Tuesday. Nadal beat the former US Open champion 7-5, 6-1 in the 37-year-old's first competitive singles outing following a yearlong injury layoff. AFP

Spaniard shows no signs of rust as he powers past Thiem

BRISBANE, Australia — His arms raised triumphantly, unable to conceal a winner's grin, Rafael Nadal took time to savor a victory that was 12 months and a lot of rehab in the making.

Sure, it was the first round of a season-opening tournament, but it felt momentous for the 22-time major winner because it was only a matter of weeks ago he wasn't certain he'd be ready to return from a long-term hip injury.

The 37-year-old Spaniard showed no signs of rust at the Brisbane International on Tuesday in a 7-5, 6-1 win over Dominic Thiem, who won the US Open in 2020 and has a career-high No 3 ranking but is making a slow return from injury himself.

"Today is honestly an emotional and important day for me," Nadal said. "And to play at the very positive level on the first day is something that probably makes (me) feel proud.

"It's been the longest period of time without being in a professional tournament since I started my tennis career, so, yeah, it's an amazing feeling to come back."

Nadal hadn't played a singles match at the elite level since a second-round exit at the Australian Open last January. The protracted recovery from a surgically repaired hip didn't seem to slow him.

He made just a handful of unforced errors, lost only six points on his serve in the entire match and hit some stunning forehand winners. After making the decisive break at 6-5 in the first set, he dominated the latter stages of the match.

"For me the main thing is staying healthy. I really think that I didn't forget how to play tennis. The only thing that's going to be difficult is to make it in a professional match and in a very high level of tennis," Nadal told reporters.

"You need to recover the confidence and the movements, that takes time ... After the surgery, you feel scared sometimes to do a kind of movement and you need to recover the speed and reading the ball and (doing) things in an automatic way.

"You need hours on court, hours in a practice session, but at the same time hours in professional matches. I (didn't) know what could happen today. It's a day to be happy ... I am excited to have the chance to play another time."

Ranked No 672 and playing on a wild card in Brisbane, Nadal said the last year had been the toughest of his professional career.

"You go on court and you have more nerves than usual because you (are) really at the end (of rehab and) hope that you're going to play at this level, but inside yourself you know that (it) can be a disaster and that, of course, worried me."

He was content with his low error rate, with his game management and with how his body felt after his initial foray back at the top level.

"I didn't make a lot of bad decisions choosing the shots that I have to play, and that's something difficult after such a long time," he said. "Something that I'm happy with."

Nadal will next play Australian wild card Jason Kubler, who was one set apiece with Aslan Karatsev at 6-4, 6-7 (4) when the No 8 seed retired injured.

Osaka ousted

Karolina Pliskova gave Naomi Osaka a reality check on her return to tournament tennis by rallying for a 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory in a high quality second-round clash on Wednesday.

Osaka had eased through her first tour match in 15 months on Monday after taking time out of the game to have a child but former world No 1 Pliskova proved an altogether tougher prospect.

The contest started well for four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka after she banged down five aces to lock up the opening set in 37 minutes against her rusty-looking opponent, who had received a bye through the first round.

Pliskova found her rhythm in the second set, however, and although Osaka's rock-solid serve repeatedly got her out of trouble until the tie-break, she was unable to prevent the Czech from leveling up the contest.

An early break allowed Pliskova to get her nose in front in the deciding set and she saved three break points in the next game to retain her advantage over her 26-year-old rival.

That was as close as Osaka got and Pliskova showed the quality of her own serve to ease into the third round and a clash with Camila Giorgi or third seed Jelena Ostapenko.

"I'm happy to start with a win, the start of the season is always important, I thought I played quite well," Pliskova, who won the Brisbane title in 2017, 2019 and 2020, said in an on-court interview.

"I thought my focus (was the difference), you can practice for as long as you like but a match is always a bit different."

Osaka will take plenty of positives out of the contest, not least the 14 aces she pounded down, as she looks ahead to her return to the Grand Slam arena at the Australian Open, a tournament she won in 2019 and 2021.