Alcaraz and Sinner's Different Paths

CINCINNATI, SUNDAY – Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are two of the best male singles tennis players since 2024, each having taken different paths after the first half of the season. Alcaraz aims to break his poor results in the second half of the 2025 season with the goal of advancing far in the ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati.

The two tennis players appeared at the Cincinnati Masters as the top two seeds and began their performances in the second round (after receiving a bye in the first round) with victories. However, they achieved this through different paths.

Alcaraz played three sets against Damir Dzumhir at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, on Sunday (11/8/2025) local time. He won with a score of 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 after competing for one hour and 41 minutes. Meanwhile, Sinner won the second round against Daniel Elahi Galan 6-1, 6-1 in just 59 minutes the day before. This match even became Sinner's fastest victory of the year.

"It's been a roller coaster. There were moments when I felt like I was playing well, then I felt like I was playing poorly. I can only say I'm happy to have come out of the match with a win and given the opportunity to play better and build my confidence," Alcaraz said on the official ATP website.

Initially, Alcaraz looked as solid as Sinner. He won the opening set in just 28 minutes. However, he struggled to control the fast-moving ball in the second set, making 16 unforced errors, compared to the ten in the first set. This was significantly higher than the four unforced errors Sinner made against Galan.

In addition to their winning paths in the second round, Alcaraz and Sinner have differences in their journeys in the hard court tournament held in America every August-September.

The competitive season takes place after the Wimbledon Grand Slam on grass courts and serves as a warm-up for the final Grand Slam, the US Open. This year, the US Open will be held from August 24 to September 7.

In addition to the Cincinnati Masters, another warm-up tournament leading to the US Open is the Canada Masters. In 2025, Sinner and Alcaraz missed the tournament held prior to the Cincinnati Masters after they faced each other in the Wimbledon final.

However, reflecting on the journey over the past two years leading up to the US Open, Sinner has shown greater consistency. From the Canada and Cincinnati Masters 2023-2024, Sinner became the champion in Canada in 2023 and Cincinnati in 2024. He then concluded his performance in the tournament in the northern part of America by reaching the fourth round of the US Open 2023 and becoming the champion the following year.

If he can beat Hamad Medjedovic in the third round, Alcaraz could meet Jakub Mensik in the fourth round.

Alcaraz's performance after Wimbledon over the past two years has been inconsistent. After reaching the quarter-finals of the 2023 Canada Masters, he appeared in the final of the Cincinnati Masters the following week. However, Alcaraz failed to defend his title at the 2022 US Open as he was eliminated in the quarter-finals.

In 2024, the Spanish tennis player achieved poorer results. He was absent in Canada and only reached the second round in Cincinnati and the US Open. Therefore, before the Cincinnati Masters 2025 began, Alcaraz expressed his determination to compete on hard courts in the US better than the previous year.

In order to achieve better results by the end of the 2025 season, the desire to improve performance levels cannot merely be a spoken resolution. If he can defeat Hamad Medjedovic in the third round, Alcaraz could face Jakub Mensik in the fourth round.

Mensik is a 19-year-old Czech tennis player who won the Miami Masters in March. He made headlines by defeating Taylor Fritz and Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and finals. Alcaraz could also meet Ben Shelton in the top half of the draw, the American player who won the Canada Masters last weekend.

In the women's singles competition at the same WTA 1000 level, Cori "Coco" Gauff also has a lot of work to do. She must improve her performance after being eliminated in the fourth round of the WTA 1000 Canada. In three rounds, including her loss to Victoria Mboko in the fourth round, Coco made 42 double faults.

Coco couldn't fix this weakness against Wang Xin Yu in the second round in Cincinnati. In one game, she made three double faults. However, Coco still managed to recover and win 6-3, 6-2 to set up a meeting with Dayana Yastremska in the next round. Yastremska was the player who defeated her in the first round at Wimbledon.

"The first match was difficult. It's all about how I believe in my own abilities and practicing what I have done in training," said the 2023 WTA Cincinnati champion.

The world’s second-ranked tennis player secured her second title from the Grand Slam arena by winning the French Open on the clay courts of Roland Garros in June. However, after that, Coco was unable to maintain her performance as the tournaments shifted to grass courts and then hard courts in America. On the grass courts, Coco lost in the second round of the WTA 500 in Berlin and in the first round of Wimbledon.

At the WTA Canada, her journey was a little further, but her performance was dismal. She went to three sets in each of the second and third rounds (having a bye in the first round), then lost in two sets to eventual champion Mboko.

Thus, the Cincinnati Masters becomes the last opportunity to rectify all her weaknesses before returning to Flushing Meadows, New York, where she won her first Grand Slam title. Coco triumphed at the US Open 2023 after defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the final.

In the upper half of the draw, Iga Swiatek benefited from a walkover in the third round. On Monday local time, Swiatek was supposed to face Marta Kostyuk, but the Ukrainian player withdrew due to a right wrist injury. Swiatek is now waiting for her opponent, the winner of the match between Sorana Cirstea and Yuan Yue.

Several matches in the third round that took place on Monday were expected to be exciting, such as Sabalenka against Emma Raducanu. There was also Elena Rybakina set to face Elise Mertens. In the men's singles, Cincinnati Masters 2024 finalist Frances Tiafoe was challenged by Ugo Humbert, while Fritz faced Lorenzo Sonego. (afp)