Rafael Nadal

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After defeating Fabio Fognini of Italy in the second round of the US Open 2022 on Thursday, the 22-time grand slam winner has booked his ticket to Turin for the Nitto ATP Finals 2022 set to be held at the Pala Alpitour from November 13 to 20.

With his 17th qualification, 36-year-old Nadal earned the second-most qualifications in event history. Nadal is expected to finish the year-end at No. 1 in the ATP Rankings for the sixth time equaling Pete Sampras for the second-most year-end No. 1 finishes in history.

On booking his spot at season finale for the 17th time, Rafael Nadal said, "Good news of course. One more year at the age of 36. Finish the year probably, if nothing goes wrong, in the Top 5. Yeah, it's better than what we expected when we started the year and we didn't know much about how the things [were] going to go. [I am] happy. But things are [going to] keep going here. Happy to stay alive after tonight. Now is the moment to play better. I hope to be ready to make that happen."

World No 3 Nadal is yet to lose a game in Grand Slams this year after winning the Australian Open and Roland Garros in the same year for the first time and  reaching the Wimbledon  semi-finals , where he was forced to withdraw due to an abdominal injury. Recently, Nadal has entered the third round of the US Open 2022, where he will face  Richard Gasquet of France on Saturday.

Apart from this,  the Spaniard has also triumphed at an ATP 250 in Melbourne and an ATP 500 at Acapulco.  The Manacor-native lost the  BNP Paribas Open final against  Taylor Fritz  in Indian Wells.