Emma Raducanu suffered defeat on her return to action on Monday as Greece's Maria Sakkari beat her 6-3 3-6 6-1 in the United Cup, live on Sky Sports Tennis.

Raducanu was making her first competitive outing since mid-October, having ended last season early amid physical struggles in China. She pulled out of her previous clash against Naomi Osaka, although it did not trouble Great Britain too much as they started their United Cup campaign with a 2-1 win over Japan in Perth.

Britain's second contest brought defeat for Raducanu, though, in a loss that followed Billy Harris losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas as Greece sealed victory.

Harris won the first set but ultimately Tsitsipas prevailed 4-6 6-1 7-6 (7-4).

In Raducanu's contest, despite the Brit moving a break ahead early in the opening set, Sakkari fought back to claim it.

It then looked as if Raducanu would be beaten in straight sets, but she showed spirit to dig in and break back in the second before going on to force a decider.

There was only one winner in the third set, however, as Sakkari proved much the stronger.

Raducanu sat down with Sky Sports' Laura Robson before the start of the United Cup in Australia where she admitted to feeling a few butterflies ahead of the new season.

"You do have it [butterflies] because also you don't see the same faces for a while and then all of a sudden you're seeing the same faces and you're reminded of how it feels," said the British No 1.

"You get out of the kind of habit of playing tournaments and matches. So I think that will also be interesting to deal with and cope with."

The 23-year-old, who could be seeded at the year's first Grand Slam, joined her team for a trip to Rottnest Island, just off Perth, where she opened up on the misconceptions on life as a tennis player.

She said: "When we went to Rottnest, it was a four and a half-hour round trip for 20 minutes on the island. But I think the public would only see the photo that was taken on the island.

"At 7am we had to be in the gym and then 9 to 1.30 Rottnest and then 2.30 to 4.35 tennis and then treatment till like 7pm so by the time you get back and everything, the day goes like that. That is just part of our life that like we don't post about all the work that we're doing as well.

"The media things that we do is the same as the training we do because it's part of the job. So I think that is probably one of the misconceptions."

Raducanu excused herself from a couple of exhibition matches in the United States last month in order to regain full fitness for the 2026 season. Some light bone bruising on her right foot was a factor but was not thought to stop her from last month's pre-season preparations alongside new coach Francis Roig in Barcelona.

"He's a big advocate for me using my skills because I think that's a great part of my game is the ability to mix things up and change the play," the world No 29 said.

"It's nice to feel just pretty set going into the year. I haven't really had this feeling strangely, but it's nice. And we're working towards just feeling good and feeling ready and prepared and really, hard working and serious when we're on, but also a relaxed way when we go into it."

Great Britain's Fran Jones claimed the biggest win of her career so far to defeat world No 15 Emma Navarro in the first round of the ASB Classic.

British No 3 Jones beat the American number-two seed 7-5 2-6 6-4 in her first match of 2026 to advance to the second round in Auckland, where she will play Austrian qualifier Sinja Kraus.

Jones won the first set after a decisive break of Navarro's serve on the resumption of play after a rain delay at 5-5 and then, after losing the second set, went a break up on the American's second service game of the third.

She was not broken on her own serve thereafter and sealed victory, her first over a player ranked in the top 20.

Navarro won more points during the match and Jones said in her on-court interview after securing a memorable victory: "I'm absolutely knackered!

"For the first match of the year, I didn't make it easy, to be honest. But I'm really grateful, grateful for my team, I've been difficult the last few days, trying to get ready for the season is always really complicated for every player.

"Emma can play a better level, everyone can play a better level. It's about finding your feet but, for me, just having the right attitude first match coming into the year is the most important thing, so thankfully I did that."

Jones, 25, has twice reached semi-finals on the WTA Tour, with her second coming last September in Sao Paulo.

She is currently ranked 72rd in the world, one place higher than her career best achieved last October.

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