Naomi Osaka struggled early on against Katie Swan but ultimately managed to complete a two-set 7-6 (4) 6-1 United Cup win over the 276th-ranked Briton.
Earlier today, Great Britain's Billy Harris defeated Japanese Shintaro Mochizuki to put the British side in front.
Next scheduled to take the court were Osaka and Emma Raducanu. But the match never happened after the 2021 US Open champion withdrew late from the match due to an injury. Swan, whose career-high ranking saw her sit at No. 118 in the world, was named as replacement by British captain Tim Henman.
On paper, Osaka was the big favorite to beat Swan. But it didn't start as expected for the former world No. 1 after the Briton opened a 5-3 first-set lead. However, the four-time Grand Slam champion found a way out as she managed to get the break back – force a tie-break – where she won three consecutive points for a 6-3 lead before converting her second set point.
Swan collapsed after dropping the opener in a heartbreaking way as the Japanese tennis star clinched three breaks en route to sealing a two-set win.
Now, a deciding mixed doubles match will decide the winner of the Japan and Great Britain tie. Unless any of the two teams makes any last-minute change, it should be Noa Hibino and Yasutaka Uchiyama taking on Olivia Nicholls and Neal Skupski.
Osaka wins her first match of 2026 after revealing illness
After losing to Maria Sakkari at the United Cup on Friday, Osaka revealed that she was ill.
"I'm not operating at the percent that I want to be operating at, which kind of sucks because, like, I had a really good off-season so I thought I was going to do really well here. Then I got really sick. I think I'm at the tail end of that, but still not amazing. So yeah, I feel like for me, I'm just trying to get better every day. Obviously I had a cough, like a runny nose, like all that nasty stuff," Osaka shared two days ago.
