Men's world number two Rafael Nadal has displayed his sportsmanship amid a tense moment during his shock three-set loss to Great Britain's Cameron Norrie at the United Cup in Sydney.

The scores were locked at 2-2 and 30-30 in the deciding set of Saturday's match when Nadal admitted the ball had struck his body while playing a close-range shot that had made it over the net.

Nadal saved the ensuing break point, but world number 14 Norrie snared the break shortly after on his way to wrapping up a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in two hours and 45 minutes.

Great Britain took a 2-0 lead over Spain in the round-robin tie when Katie Swan defeated Nuria Párrizas Díaz 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

The British team beat Australia 3-2 in their opening tie and will top their group with a win over Spain.

Nadal won the Australian and French Opens this year to take his career majors tally to 22, but foot, rib and abdomen issues meant he played just four events after Wimbledon.

The 36-year-old looked rusty at times against Norrie, with just over two weeks to regain his touch ahead of his Australian Open defence.

Norrie failed to win a set in his four previous encounters against Nadal and was thrilled to get the win.

"It was pretty crazy. I was thinking I'd never won a set before, so I wanted to come out and firstly do that," Norrie told the Nine Network.

"It was a super physical match and I enjoyed it. It's huge to get through that one. He beat me easy the last few times.

"I felt like I was finding really good depth on my shots.

"Tactically, I think it was a pretty good match and I served my way out of some trouble. It's a great way to end 2022 for me."