Indian Wells: Nadal fans heartbroken after Fritz stuns to clinch maiden title

Taylor Fritz stunned Rafael Nadal in straight sets to win the 2022 Indian Wells Masters. It happens to be his maiden ATP Masters title to date.

Rafael Nadal of Spain could not continue with his flawless run this year. He finally suffered his opening defeat of the year. On Sunday, he was beaten by Taylor Fritz of the United States of America (USA) during the Indian Wells Masters 2022 final on Sunday. It all happened in straight sets, with the eighth-ranked winning 6-3, 7-6(5).

Overall, it was Fritz’s second ATP tour-level trophy. The 24-year-old was ruthless with his attacks, barely giving Nadal any chance to compete. The defeat ended the Spaniard’s 20-game unbeaten streak of 2022, which happened to be his personal best. Also, the American looked doubtful before the match, having tweaked his ankle during his semis win over Andrey Rublev of Russia, while he was somewhat in discomfort before Sunday’s final.

Nadal tried to utilise Fritz’s pace against the latter and stayed strong at his baseline, playing longer rallies. However, at 4-4, the American pulled up his ante over the Spaniard. Although Nadal saved a championship point, Fritz switched to a higher gear, barely allowing any further chance to the world number three to stay in the match and finished things off in styles through a serve-forehand combo.

Following the win, Fritz reckoned, “I can’t even begin to describe how ridiculous it is that I was able to play how I could play today. I’ve never experienced worse pain in my life before a match. We did a lot of work leading up to the match, and I went through a roller coaster of emotions before the match, from thinking there was no way I could play to then doing all this work on the ankle, doing so much stuff to it. I came out here, and it didn’t affect me at all.”

On the other hand, Nadal noted, “I tried my best. Of course, not been my day. But that happens. I have experience in all these situations. So, at the moment, of course, it’s tough to play a final like this. Tried till the end. That’s it. Even I had my chances in the second set. I didn’t convert too many chances. That’s it. I think it’s a difficult match to analyse personally from my side because I could not do many things.”