The top seed had been unbeatable all week, but in the first two sets, the Serbian seemed a little off-colour before securing a 6-7(8), 7-6(3), 6-4 victory over the 22-year-old.
London [UK], December 15 (ANI): Polish star Iga Swiatek and Spanish legend Rafael Nadal were crowned as ITF World Champions 2022 by the International Tennis Federation for clinching two Grand Slam titles during this season.
Alcaraz has experienced an incredible rise in the world of tennis this year. He soared from number 32 to the top of this sport's mountain on September 12, which is also the biggest jump to number one in 50 editions of year-end ATP rankings, as per ATP.
Fritz completed a dream debut at the season finale while smashing Nadal's bid to win the lone big title that has eluded him in his legendary career with a 7-6(3), 6-1 victory.
In the second half of the season, Nadal lost his ATP Tour rhythm for good and bad reasons. Aside from missing time to recover from two abdominal tears, he sustained at Wimbledon and right before the US Open, he welcomed the birth of his first child in October.
The current world number 1 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain will be missing the tournament due to an injury. This will leave Nadal, Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev and Taylor Fritz fighting for the singles title
The top 16 nations' entries have been revealed, with Team Greece, comprised of world No 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas and world No 6 Maria Sakkari, being seeded first.