Aged 24, the native of San Diego wins his second tournament on the ATP circuit, after the much less prestigious grass court in Eastbourne in 2019.

He is the first American to triumph in the Californian desert since Andre Agassi in 2001.

And he is above all the first of the season to bring down the ogre Nadal, the most successful player in Grand Slams (21) since his triumph at the Australian Open at the end of January, who remained on 20 consecutive victories and aimed for a 4th crowned in Indian Wells (after 2007, 2009 and 2013).

The Spaniard, who will have to wait to equal the record of 37 Masters 1000 titles held by Novak Djokovic, will only have to console himself with the assurance of climbing to 3rd place in the world on Monday.

He ended up becoming human again, facing an opponent whose rumor however said that he was not at 100% of his means, because he had to quickly shorten his morning training, the fault of a recalcitrant ankle.

The day before after dismissing the Russian Andrey Rublev (7th), he had confided to having hurt himself a little at the end of the match.

But the most suffering of the two was obviously not the one we thought.

Nadal, who had also caused chest pain in the third of his tough fight against his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz (19th), again called on the physiotherapist after losing the first set.

And he left to be treated in the locker room for a good five minutes.

He had just given up the first set, facing Fritz, who, like the day before, to get rid of the Russian Andrey Rublev (7th), also on a virtuous series stopped at 14 victories, set the tone from the start of the match.

The American was aggressive and seized his chance almost in every exchange, relying on his excellent first ball and his cross backhand, his best weapon.

Nadal resisted as best he could in the second set, despite an increasingly obvious pain - this time he had his back massaged on the court - which mainly penalized him on the backhand side, with a lot of unforced errors at the end.

But he also won some serious points by going after himself, suggesting yet another comeback, after saving a first match point at 5-4 against him on his serve.

But for once, he was unable to convert the break points which might have restarted everything and he ended up giving in to the decisive game, Fritz not missing his chance.

© 2022 AFP