Taylor Fritz halts Nadal’s perfect start to season

American player Taylor Fritz won the Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament title on Sunday, stopping Spanish star Rafael Nadal’s 20-match winning streak in a row despite an ankle injury. This was the first big title won by an American since Andre Agassi in 2001.

Fritz was under pressure to withdraw from the match due to injury. His coach had advised him not to take risks but the American player did not give up and defeated Spanish legend Nadal 6-3, 7-5 (6) to win the title.

This is the first defeat of Nadal in 2022, who has won a record 21st Grand Slam this year. Nadal won the Australian Open title, surpassing Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer to become the male player to have won the most Grand Slam singles titles.

Fritz was injured during a match against seventh seed Andre Rublev in the semi-finals. Nadal was also unwell and took a ‘medical timeout’ twice during the final as he was having trouble breathing.