NOVAK DJOKOVIC’S PREPARATIONS for his Australian Open title defence were dealt a blow in an injury-affected defeat to Alex de Minaur in the United Cup in Perth.

Djokovic lost 6-4 6-4 to world number 12 De Minaur as Australia took a 1-0 lead in their quarter-final against Serbia in the mixed team event before sealing a 2-0 victory.

Djokovic was below his best and struggled with an on-going problem with his right wrist, twice requiring treatment from the physio.

The world number one needed a medical time-out for the issue in his previous United Cup match against the Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka, which he won in three sets on Tuesday.

The Serbian was treated after holding serve to lead 4-3 in the opening set and again after De Minaur had broken to edge 5-4 up.

Despite Djokovic’s fitness concerns, De Minaur produced an impressive performance to seal one of the biggest wins of his career in just over an hour-and-a-half.

De Minaur said in his on-court interview after the match: “It’s extra special. Novak is an unbelievable competitor and what he’s done for the sport is pretty special.

“When you go up against Novak you have to go out and enjoy it and back yourself and no matter what keep fighting until the end. Today was my day and I’m happy that I was able to get the win.”

Ajla Tomljanovic followed De Minaur’s win by beating Serbia’s Natalija Stevanovic 6-1 6-1 to clinch Australia’s semi-final place.

Naomi Osaka’s first tournament appearance in more than two years has ended with a second-round defeat to 16th seed Karolina Pliskova at the Brisbane International.

Following an opening-round win over Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch on Monday, Osaka looked to keep her momentum going against the Czech world number 39 but was ultimately outlasted 3-6 7-6 (4) 6-4.

In a battle of two former world number ones, Osaka exploded out of the gates to claim the first set before Pliskova began to find her footing in the second.

After surviving an early break point, Pliskova capitalised on her serve to take control of the match, going on to win 92 percent of her first service points in the set.

Osaka continued to threaten throughout the final set, but was unable to make the most of her remaining opportunities in the narrow loss.

Osaka returned to the court on Monday for the first time since withdrawing from the Pan Pacific Trophy with a knee injury in September 2021. She became a mother for the first time in July.

Elsewhere, Australia’s Daria Saville came agonisingly close to upsetting 11th seed Anastasia Potapova in a 6-4 3-6 6-4 defeat.

The world number 176 dropped the first set but battled back to convincingly claim the second in front of a raucous home crowd.

However Potapova showed plenty of her own fight in the decider, eventually wrapping up the result in two hours and 52 minutes.

Meanwhile, top seed Aryna Sabalenka swept past Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti 6-3 6-0 and sixth seed Veronika Kudermetova cruised to a 6-2 6-3 win over world number 73 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.

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