Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari lead Greece to victory over Japan at Fed Cup | ATP Tour

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Tsitsipas and Sakkari provide impetus for Greece to overtake Japan in Perth

Former world No. 3 Tsitsipas wins first match since September

January 2, 2026

After a challenging 2025 campaign, Stefanos Tsitsipas started his 2026 campaign on a positive note as he led Greece to a confident win over Japan in the Confederations Cup in Perth on Friday.

After Maria Sakkari beat Naomi Osaka in straight sets to give Greece an early advantage, Tsitsipas sealed victory with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Shintaro Mochizuki. The former world number three, who was sidelined with a back injury in his first tournament since September, bounced back from an early break and produced a calm performance for the 2023 semi-finalist.

“It’s been a difficult few months for me,” Tsitsipas said. “I had a lot of uncertainty, I wasn’t sure if I could actually play, so to be able to see myself at that level again and show some really good tennis is something I’m grateful for. Let’s keep it going.”

After being upset by Matteo Gigante in the second round at Roland Garros last year, Tsitsipas dropped out of the top 20 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time since August 2018. The former Nitto ATP Finals champion has been battling a back injury and spent two months working with Goran Ivanisevic before rehiring his father Apostolos.

But in his first match of the season, Tsitsipas looked refreshed and purposeful, hitting the ball with confidence in his first Lexus ATP head-to-head match against 22-year-old Mochizuki, ranked 99th in the world.

Tsitsipas, who once ranked in the top 10 and is currently ranked 36th in the world, is targeting a return to a Grand Slam final in 2026, having previously reached this stage at the 2021 French Open and the 2023 Australian Open.

Earlier, Sakkari shook off the lingering disappointment of last year’s round-robin exit and helped Greece get off to a fast start, defeating four-time Grand Slam champion and world No. 16 Naomi Osaka in straight sets.

Facing Osaka for the first time in nearly five years, the former world number three Greek used a fast start in two sets to beat the Japanese 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 38 minutes in their first match at the RAC Arena.

Beware of Sakk attacks 💥@MariaSakari A perfect start for Greece in Perth. pic.twitter.com/2O0YqufDOc

— United Cup (@UnitedCupTennis) January 2, 2026

Sakkari took the initiative in the first set, holding serve and breaking early in Osaka’s first service game to take a 2-0 lead. Osaka immediately broke serve, but Sakkari regained the advantage and ended the set with a backhand winner to create a third set point, which she quickly converted.

“When you go into your first game, you’re always very hesitant because sometimes you can fool yourself, you have a good preseason and then you have high expectations to go out and do everything,” Sakkari told reporters after the game.

“I really force myself not to think like that. I think that’s the key. Just go out there and try to do what I’m doing and, you know, we keep building and we can keep trying to improve.”

Sakkari took the initiative in the first set, holding serve and breaking early in Osaka’s first service game to take a 2-0 lead. Osaka immediately broke serve, but Sakkari regained the advantage and ended the set with a backhand winner to create a third set point, which she quickly converted.

“[There were] “I hit a lot of backhand winners, but I also had a lot of backhand errors,” Sakkari said. “I had to allow myself to miss so I could hit a lot of winners.” Honestly, it was all about who was going to occupy the backline. The key is who can get a nice cross-court ball to get down the line. ”

The second set started with two holds, and then Sakkari erased two break points to lead 2-1. She then broke Osaka again to take a 3-1 lead, before continuing to take control as she sealed her third win in six meetings with Osaka, leveling the score and, more importantly, giving Greece a 1-0 lead against Japan.