BRISBANE, Australia, Jan 2 (AP): The longest time off tour in his professional career made Rafael Nadal much more nervous than usual ahead of his first competitive match in almost 12 months.
The 22-time major winner showed no signs of rust at the Brisbane International on Tuesday in a 7-5, 6-1 win over Dominic Thiem, who won the U.S. Open in 2020 and has a career-high No. 3 ranking but is making a slow return from injury himself.

Nadal hadn’t played a singles match at the elite level since last January and a hip injury in a second-round exit at the Australian Open. That time off didn't seem to slow him. The 37-year-old Nadal made just a handful of unforced errors, lost just six points on his serve in the entire match and hit some stunning forehand winners. He made the decisive break at 6-5 in the first set and dominated the latter stages of the match, winning eight of the last nine games. Ranked No. 672 and playing on a wild card in Brisbane, Nadal said the last 12 months had been among the toughest of his professional career.

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. Play on outside courts was interrupted by rain for a second consecutive day but went ahead in the covered Pat Rafter Arena. In the day's first result, No. 51-ranked Yannick Hanfmann of Germany beat fifth-seeded Sebastian Korda 7-5, 6-4.

In the women's draw, 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin was upset by No. 113-ranked Arina Rodionova 7-5, 7-6 (7) in the second round. No. 14-seeded Kenin was constantly under pressure on her serve despite having chances in both sets against Rodionova, a 34-year-old Australian who has never been ranked in the top 100. Victoria Azarenka, another former Brisbane International and Australian Open champion, was broken twice while serving for the match before finally converting on her fifth match point to beat Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 7-6 (8).