In Cincinnati, It’s Alcaraz and Sinner For the Title Again

By Chris Oddo | Saturday August 16, 2025

Rivalry renewed. For the fourth time this year, the game’s premier players will meet in a high-stakes final, as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner both came through their semifinal tilts on Saturday at the Cincinnati Open.

Bring on Alcaraz vs Sinner, episode No.14!

The rivalry that has enabled tennis fans to get over the end of the Big Three era continues to captivate, and Monday’s final, the sixth overall between the pair, and the second at a Masters event, promises to be a corker.

Sinner, the defending champion, rides a 26-match hard court winning streak after his win over French qualifier Terence Atmane on Saturday; Alcaraz, meanwhile, has now reached at least the final of his last seven events, and he carries a 16-match winning streak at the Masters 1000s.

Truth be told, the Cincinnati final will be a step down from the pair’s last two meetings, which were both classics that played out in Grand Slam finals. Alcaraz saved three championship points to take down Sinner in this year’s Roland-Garros final – one of the best matches of the decade and the best the pair of luminaries have ever contested – while Sinner turned the tide and snapped a five-match losing streak to Alcaraz by taking him out in four sets for his first Wimbledon title.

Alcaraz, who defeated a beleaguered Alexander Zverev 6-4 6-3 on Saturday, hopes to flip the script on Sinner once again.

Sinner has won 65 of 68 hard court matches since the start of 2024, but it is Alcaraz who has claimed two of those three victories.

“I’m really looking forward to playing against him once again,” said the Spaniard, who fell in four sets to his rival in their most recent meeting at Wimbledon. “We raise our level to the top and we bring a really beautiful tennis to the match. I’m ready to take the challenge. I’m ready to see the things that I did wrong in the last match and trying to be better on that side on Monday.”

Alcaraz holds the 8-5 lifetime edge over Sinner, and he has also won their last two hard court meetings, and five of seven overall on the surface. The Italian world No.1 celebrated his 24th birthday on Saturday by stretching his Cincinnati winning streak to 11. He has not lost a set through five wins this year in Cincinnati, while Alcaraz has twice had to go the distance.

No matter what happens on Monday, the match will function as a mouthwatering preview for the final major of the year, which begins a week from Sunday in Flushing Meadows. Sinner, who has won each of the last three hard court majors, is the defending champion at the US Open as well.