Indian Wells – Archyde.com
Rafael Nadal defeated his young Spanish compatriot Carlos Alcaraz 6-4 4-6 6-3 to extend his winning streak to 20 matches and book his place in the final of the Indian Wells Tennis Championships.
And Nadal plays the final on Sunday in the California desert, where he will equal the Spaniard if he wins Novak Djokovic’s record of 37 Masters titles.
And while Alcaraz produced a much better performance than his 6-1, 6-2 loss last year in his first match against his idol, Nadal made it clear that he was not yet ready to pass the flag on to his 18-year-old compatriot.
“I was playing really well in the beginning but it was very difficult to stop him with his amazing shots,” said Nadal, who will be playing in his fifth Indian Wells final. After that, I cannot say that I was in control because it is impossible to be in control against a player like him.”
Alcaraz thrilled the crowd when he broke 21-times Grand Slam champion Nadal to open the match with a stunning backhand winner.
But Nadal broke Alcaraz to win the impressive first set.
While Alcaraz took advantage of two break opportunities to his opponent, Nadal kept his Spanish compatriot under constant pressure and had 17 break opportunities and succeeded in three of them.
In the second set, the two players competed with each other and faced strong winds on the field, and the referee asked the fans to hold on to their belongings so as not to disrupt the play.
Alcaraz put the crowd on tiptoe in the ninth game that lasted 20 minutes and was decided when he took advantage of his seventh chance to break Nadal and then held on to equalize.
With the wind waning in the third set, the players’ performance rose and Nadal narrowly edged out his brave opponent in the final set.
Nadal, as usual, refused to give up and broke his opponent’s serve to lead 5-4, then held on and raised his arms happily to greet the crowd after his victory.