21-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal heaped praise teenager Carlos Alcaraz, saying his countryman is already a top player and has a fantastic future in men’s singles tennis. In a highly-anticipated semi-final match at the Indian Wells, Nadal downed Alcaraz in a hard-fought 3-set battle to reach another final in 2022.

Nadal extended his winning run in 2022 to 20-0, reaching his fourth final on the tour after the ATP 250 event in Melbourne, The Australian Open and and Acapulco.

The semi-final win was not straightforward in the California desert as Nadal was made to work hard by Alcaraz, who is widely tipped to dominate men’s singles in the future.

“I took it like another semi-final match. He’s not a young player that is 100 in the world and is coming. He is a top player already, so I treated it like that, playing against one of the best players in the world,” Nadal said on Sunday.

“It doesn’t matter if he’s young or not, he’s a great guy, an amazing player and he has a fantastic future. I treated it like this, just tried to go on court, try my best and accept all the challenges. I am through and it was a very important victory for me.”

20-0@RafaelNadal keeps his winning streak alive after his 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Carlos Alcaraz

He will face Taylor Fritz for the title @BNPPARIBASOPEN | #IndianWells pic.twitter.com/oJjLSNwJDx

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 20, 2022

Nadal will take on Taylor Fritz in the men’s singles final on Monday at Indian Wells. If he wins the ultimate battle, he will go on to equal Novak Djokovic’s record for the most number of ATP Masters 1000 titles in history with 37.

Alcaraz sent a buzz through the stadium when he broke the 21-time grand slam winner to open the match with a thundering backhand winner.

But Nadal would claim the final break to clinch a fascinating open set.

While Alcaraz was efficient converting both of his two break chances Nadal kept the youngster under constant pressure with 17 break opportunities converting three.

In the second set the two players battled each other and ferocious winds that had papers, water bottles and towels blowing across the court, with the chair umpire asking spectators to hang onto their possessions so play could continue.

As the winds died down in the third set the quality of play from both players went up with Nadal raising his game just a little bit more than his fearless teenage opponent in a high-quality final set.

Nadal, as he so often has, refused to surrender recording the decisive break to go up 5-4 then holding serve and raising his arms in triumph to a howling adoring crowd.

Earlier Fritz earned a spot in his first Masters 1000 final with a 7-5 6-4 win over seventh seed Andrey Rublev and will try to become the first American since Andre Agassi in 2001 to lift the trophy.