As this 2026 WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz season unfurls, they are two of the most intriguing players based on their past performances — and, going forward, what the future holds.
Naomi Osaka has won four Grand Slam singles titles, most recently the Australian Open nearly five years ago. Later that same year, Emma Raducanu was still a teenager when at the 2021 US Open, she became the first qualifier to win a major title.
Since those crowning moments, neither has won a title. Can Osaka, 28, and the 23-year-old Raducanu — who both put together some encouraging results in 2025 and rose in the rankings — return to elite form?
Sunday may offer some emerging clues when they meet in a United Cup match pitting Great Britain against Japan at the RAC Arena in Perth. Later, another marquee singles matchup will be featured when Italy takes on Switzerland.
“Really difficult,” Raducanu said. “Obviously, Naomi had a great end to the season as well. Yeah, just hope to give it all and do my best.”
They’ve played only once, last summer in Washington, D.C., when Raducanu was an emphatic 6-4, 6-2 winner in a Round of 16 match. There’s some pressure on Osaka and Shintaro Mochizuki, both of whom lost in straight sets to Greek players on Friday. Osaka fell to Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-2.
“Being able to play the best players in the world straight off the bat, I think is a privilege,” Osaka told reporters “For me, I really enjoy matches like that. I just feel like it’s going to be really fun.”
After giving birth to a daughter in the summer of 2023, Osaka has gradually rediscovered her elite game, reaching the semifinals of the 2025 US Open, suggesting she soon might be a threat in Melbourne. This is the first United Cup experience for both Osaka and Raducanu.
“I think it’s a great way to start the year being part of a team environment,” Raducanu said. “It’s a little bit easier to kind of settle into the year, which is so competitive and individual. It’s nice to share this with the team.”
Another stellar match — the best strictly in terms of rankings in group play — sees No. 8 Jasmine Paolini versus No. 11 Belinda Bencic. Paolini is a two-time Grand Slam finalist, while Bencic won the singles gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Bencic won their first two meetings, but they played twice in 2025 with Paolini triumphing both times. The first match — at the United Cup — deserves an asterisk. Paolini was a 6-1, 6-1 winner, but it was Bencic’s first match back after becoming a mother in 2024. It was much closer this past fall in a Ningbo quarterfinal won by Paolini 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.
This is the Italian’s third United Cup appearance.
“Maybe some years ago I felt more pressure playing as a team,” Paolini said. “I couldn’t play well in Billie Jean King Cup. Then I get more relaxed. Hopefully this year it’s going to be the same.”
Bencic comes in with some serious momentum after winning two matches in a 3-0 victory over France — including the decisive mixed doubles with Jakub Paul in a match-tiebreak.
“It’s been a great day for us, thanks to Belinda to play so well and to show us the way,” said Swiss captain Stan Wawrinka. “We are just living in Belinda’s world, so we’re enjoying that. Thank you.”
United Cup Jan. 4 schedule, Perth, RAC Arena
Group E: Great Britain (0-0) vs. Japan (0-1)
Start Time: (10 a.m. local, 9 p.m. ET)
Women’s singles: Emma Raducanu vs. Naomi Osaka
Men’s singles: Billy Harris vs. Shintaro Mochizuki
Mixed doubles: Olivia Nicholls and Neal Skupski vs. Nao Hibino and Y. Uchiyama
Group C: Italy (0-0) vs. Switzerland (1-0)
Start Time: (Not before 5 p.m. local, 4 a.m. ET)
Women’s singles: Jasmine Paolini vs. Belinda Bencic
Men’s singles: Flavio Cobolli vs. Stan Wawrinka
Mixed doubles: Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori vs. Bencic and Wawrinka
United Cup/Sydney
If Sydney’s opening match is any indication, we’re in for a treat. The tie between China and Belgium went down to a mixed-doubles match-tiebreak with two players who had never been partners.
Zhu Lin and Zhang Zhizhen stunned Elise Mertens and Zizou Bergs 5-7, 7-6 (5), 10-6 in a thriller at Ken Rosewall Arena.
“It’s a tough day today, especially for Triple-Z,” Zhu said of her partner. “He just finished a three-set match and didn’t get too much time to rest. I lost my singles today, so at the beginning of the game I was kind of slowly into the game, and he was there to cheer me up, to tell me to believe in myself.”
China again will have to dig deep on Sunday with another challenge – Canada, led by rising star Victoria Mboko and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Zhu beat Mboko in their only previous meeting, but that was more than three years ago in Monastir, Tunisia — when Mboko was only 15 years old.
The first tie is Germany vs. Netherlands. No. 40-ranked Eva Lys and Suzan Lamens (No. 89) have split their two career matches, with Lamens winning the most recent two years ago in Osaka qualifying.
United Cup Jan. 4 schedule, Sydney, Ken Rosewall Arena
Group F: Germany (0-0) vs. Netherlands (0-0)
Start Time: (Not before 5 p.m. local, 4 a.m. ET)
Women’s singles: Eva Lys vs. Suzan Lamens
Men’s singles: Alexander Zverev vs. Tallon Griekspoor
Mixed doubles: Laura Siegemund and Zverev vs. Demi Schuurs and Griekspoor
Group B: Canada (0-0) vs. China (1-0)
Start Time: (10:30 a.m. local, 2:30 a.m. ET)
Women’s singles: Victoria Mboko vs. Zhu Lin
Men’s singles: Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Zhang Zhizhen
Mixed doubles: Mboko and Auger-Aliassime vs. Zhu and Zhang
Brisbane International Jan. 4 schedule
Main-draw play begins Sunday at the Queensland Tennis Centre.
The 16 seeds all have byes in this WTA 500 event, but there are six first-round singles matches, including one between Daria Kasatkina and Anastasia Potapova, who recently changed nationalities, to Australia and Austria, respectively.
Special bonus: No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka opens 2026 as Paula Badosa’s doubles partner.
PAT RAFTER ARENA starts at 11 a.m.
11:00 AM Celebrity One Point Slam Challenge
NB 12:00 PM D. Kasatkina (AUS) vs A. Potapova (AUT)
P. Badosa (ESP) / A. Sabalenka vs L. Samsonova / S. Zhang (CHN)
SHOW COURT 1 starts at 11 a.m.
E. Jacquemot (FRA) vs [WC] A. Tomljanovic (AUS)
S. Cirstea (ROU) vs A. Pavlyuchenkova
S. Kenin (USA) vs [Q] E. Ruse (ROU)
J. Cristian (ROU) vs M. Bouzkova (CZE)
SHOW COURT 2 starts at 11 a.m.
E. Arango (COL) vs M. Kessler (USA)
[WC] K. Birrell (AUS) / T. Gibson (AUS) vs [3] C. Bucsa (ESP) / E. Perez (AUS)
H. Chan (TPE) / X. Jiang (CHN) vs E. Alexandrova / M. Andreeva
E. Hozumi (JPN) / F. Wu (TPE) vs [WC] P. Hon (AUS) / K. Muchova (CZE)
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