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Rafa Nadal's absurd 32-year tennis history with Indian Wells win

Rafa Nadal (pictured) celebrates his Indian Wells win over Dan Evans.
Rafa Nadal (pictured) has created history becoming the first man to win 400 Masters 1000 matches. (Getty Images)

Rafa Nadal has created tennis history after becoming the first male player to win 400 ATP Masters 1000 matches after his Indian Wells Round of 32 victory.

Nadal continued his incredible start to the 2022 season after defeating British star Dan Evans 7-5, 6-3 to set-up a Round of 16 match-up with either Denis Shapovalov or Reilly Opelka.

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However, the win created a further slice of history for the irrepressible Spaniard.

Nadal's Indian Wells win brought up his 400th Masters 1000 win on Tour level for the World No.4.

He becomes the first male player to reach 400 wins on Tour level since the series started in 1990.

Second on the list is long-time opponents Roger Federer with 381 and Novak Djokovic with 374.

Remarkably, Nadal's first ever Masters 1000 win came back in 2003 at the age of 16 at Monte Carlo.

The win also extended Nadal's record for 2022 to 17-0, his best ever start to a season at the age of 35.

Tennis world reacts to Rafa Nadal record

Nadal was nonchalant after the historic moment after he brought up his 400th Masters 1000 victory.

However, the tennis world was quick to react to more history being made from the mercurial spaniard.

Unfortunately, Nadal has already announced he would miss the upcoming Miami Open in order to give his body a rest ahead of the clay court season.

Fans were left stunned earlier in the tournament when Nadal announced that he won't be playing in Miami - the second half of the 'Sunshine Double' after Indian Wells.

Nadal is a five-time finalist at the event, but hasn’t played in Miami since 2017.

His absence means that neither of the winners of this year’s first grand slam event will be at the tournament after women’s champion Ash Barty also withdrew earlier this month.

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