Rafael Nadal defeated fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz 6-4 4-6 6-3 to extend his winning streak to 20 matches on Saturday to seal his place in the Indian Wells final.
Nadal will face American Taylor Fritz in the final on Sunday in the California Desert, where he will equal the Spanish player if he wins Novak Djokovic’s 37 Masters titles.
Earlier on Saturday, Fritz became the first American to win the title after Andre Agassi in 2001, beating seventh seed Andrei Rublev 7-5 6-4 in the Masters Final for the first time in his career. .
Algaras showed a much better game than he lost 6-1, 6-2 in his first game against his idol last year, when Nadal made it clear to his 18-year-old comrade that he was not yet ready to leave the flag.
“In the beginning I played well, but it was very difficult to stop him with his amazing shots,” said Nadal, who plays in his fifth Indian Wells final. “After that, I can not say I was in control. I can not be in control against a player like him.
Alcaraz thrilled the crowd as he beat 21-time Grand Slam champion Natale to open the match with a stunning backhand winner.
But Nadal won the first set.
While Alcaras used two breaks for his opponent, Nadal continued to put pressure on his Spaniard, who took 17 breaks and won three of them.
In the second set, the two players competed against each other and faced strong winds on the field, and the referee asked the fans to grab their belongings so as not to disrupt the game.
In the ninth game, which lasted 20 minutes, Alcaraz put the crowd on edge, and used his seventh chance to beat Natale, who was then determined to equalize.
As the wind receded in the third set the performance of the players increased and Nadal briefly outscored his brave opponent in the final set.
Nadal refused to give up as usual and broke the opponent’s serve to take a 5-4 lead, then greeted the crowd with happy hands after the win.
“In the second set, the wind was crazy,” Nadal said.
“As for tennis, it was good, but as far as stopping all the time, it’s not good.”
Ruplev entered the tournament after winning two consecutive titles in Marseille and Dubai, but his winning streak was interrupted in 13 consecutive tournaments in the California desert.
Fritz, ranked 20th in the world, got off to a strong start, beating Ruplev in his first chance to take a 3-0 lead.
When Rublev finally began to make his mark and broke the opponent’s serve, the American player took complete control of the first set 5-3.
But Fritz did not lose focus, beating Ruplev 6-5 for the second time to avoid a tiebreak, after losing the first set of the match and the opponent screaming in anger.
The second set saw a close confrontation from the expected baseline from the under-24s, but Fritz again succeeded in breaking his Russian opponent’s serve to determine the match when Rublev turned the ball into the net.
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