Indian Wells 2022: Taylor Fritz beats Rafael Nadal to win the title

After defeating tennis ace Rafael Nadal in the Indian Wells 2022 final, Taylor Fritz won his first ATP Masters 1000 championship. The American won his second ATP Tour title with a 6-3, 7-6(5) triumph. Fritz interrupted Nadal's 20-match winning streak and prevented him from earning his 37th ATP Masters 1000 championship.

Nadal won his record-breaking 21st Grand Slam victory at the Australian Open earlier this year.

The Indian Wells 2022 final contest in a nutshell

Taylor Fritz broke Nadal twice in the first set to take a 5-1 lead. Nadal closed to 5-3 with a break, but a backhand error by Fritz handed him another break and the set. On his serve, Nadal saved a match point with a forehand winner to level the second set at 5-all. In the next game, he had two break points on Fritz's serve, but the American held for a 6-5 victory. But, to force a tiebreaker, Nadal held.

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To set up Fritz's second match point, Nadal blasted two straight forehands wide. Another Nadal blunder led to the 24-year-old American's biggest win of his career, not far from his hometown of San Diego. Guy Fritz and Kathy May, Fritz's parents, are both former tour players.

"There's just no way it's real"- Taylor Fritz

"This is just one of those childhood dreams -- winning this tournament especially, Indian Wells -- this is one of those childhood dreams that you never even think could come true," an emotional Fritz said in his on-court interview. "I just keep saying: 'No, there's just no way it's real."

"I can't even begin to describe how ridiculous it is I could play like I did today. I've never experienced worse pain than that before a match. I took a couple of changes in direction with my steps and screamed. It was tough."

"We did a lot of work on the ankle leading up to the match. I went through a roller coaster of emotions thinking there's no way I can play. Then I went out hitting on the back courts and feeling happy, thinking I can play. It didn't affect me at all on court, so I couldn't be happier," he added.

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With this victory, Fritz became the first American man to win Indian Wells since Andre Agassi in 2001. He is also the youngest Indian Wells men's champion since Serbian maestro Novak Djokovic in 2011.

Nevertheless, Fritz is projected to rise from No.20 to a career-high 13th in Tuesday's ATP Tour rankings and will become the top-ranked American player whilst the Spaniard moves up to No.3.