Alcaraz Extends ATP Masters 1000 Winning Streak To 15 At Cincinnati Open

Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz (photo: Wick Photography/Cincinnati Open)

CINCINNATI/WASHINGTON, August 16, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz arrived for his Cincinnati Open semifinal against World No. 11 Andrey Rublev on a 14-match winning streak at the ATP Masters 1000 level, after winning titles in Monte-Carlo and Rome, and brought a 3-1 head-to-head advantage into his quarterfinal match Friday afternoon on P&G Center Court at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio. 

If Alcaraz could find a way to win and reach his second Cincinnati Open semifinal, after his run to the final two years ago, the 22-year-old from Murcia, Spain would tie Carlos Moya for third-most ATP Masters 1000 semifinals among Spaniards in series history.

As it happened, by the conclusion of their two-hour, 17-minute quarterfinal tussle, it was Alcaraz who won by the slimmest of margins. He defeated Rublev, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, winning on a double fault by the Russian No. 1 from Moscow.

The No. 9 seed Rublev was looking for his second semifinal in the Queen City after advancing to the 2021 final – and to become the 10th active player to reach 10 ATP Masters 1000 semifinals. However, he turned out to be his own worst enemy. Rublev’s serve abandoned him as he served five of his match-high eight double faults in the last set alone.

Alcaraz finished the last eight victory with 27 winners – including 11 aces – and made 32 unforced errors. He won 75 percent (40 of 53) of his first-serve points, converted four of six break points and outpointed Rublev 92-89. Rublev countered with 11 aces and hit 27 winners but committed 34 unforced errors.

Just what pulled Alcaraz through the quarterfinal, even if he wasn’t always playing his best tennis? “I maintained positive thoughts all the time, even though I lost focus a few times during the second set,” he said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “Playing someone like Andrey, when you lose focus on two or three points, it [can] cost you the set or almost the match. I just stayed strong mentally and that’s what I’m most proud of.”

Alcaraz wrapped up the opening set with a flourish – a break of serve from 5-3 (30-all), which was his second break of the Rublev’s serve, to win the 35-minute stanza 6-3. Alcaraz, who came in with a 3-1 head-to-head advantage, hit six winners and outpointed Rublev 29-23. He took advantage of 13 unforced errors by his opponent.

However, Rublev recovered and rallied in the second set – breaking Alcaraz in the seventh game to go ahead 4-3 – and won it 6-4 to level the match. Then, on serve through seven games in the decider, Alcaraz gained a break point at 15-40 and won it with pure power – a ripper of a groundstroke return – to take a 5-3 lead with the match on his racquet. But Rublev wasn’t quite ready to concede the quarterfinal. 

Instead, Rublev broke back in the next game at 15 and the two competitors were back on serve. Rublev held at 15 for 5-all – and it became anyone’s match to win. Soon, Alcaraz held for 6-5, employing a drop shot winner to change up the pace, then gained a deuce point in the Rublev’s next service game. He garnered match point after Rublev hit a third-shot backhand long – and won the match after Rublev struck his eighth double fault of the match.

With his ATP Tour-leading 52nd victory of the season secured, it marked the 10th time this year that Alcaraz had dropped the second set after winning the first in a best-of-three-set match.

“It’s just [about] accepting the moment, accepting that I am playing a third set, accepting that it’s going to be a really tough battle, and I love that,” Alcaraz said. “It was extreme conditions, but I just love playing in front of this energy. I am just really happy to live these kinds of experiences, so I just remind myself of that in these moments.”

Zverev reaches fourth straight Cincinnati semifinal

On Saturday, Alcaraz will face World No. 3 and third seed Alexander Zverev of Germany, who ended the career-best nine-match winning streak of World No. 6 and fifth seed Ben Shelton of the United States, 6-2, 6-2, in 77 minutes on P&G Center Court Friday evening. It’s the second-straight year Zverev has defeated Shelton in the Cincinnati quarterfinals.

Zverev, who won the Cincinnati Open title in 2021, advanced to his fourth-straight Cincinnati semifinal by winning 81 percent (26 of 32) of his first-serve points, hitting 13 winners to just seven unforced errors and converting four of 11 break-point opportunities. Zverev outpointed Shelton 63-44. Although Shelton countered with 12 aces and hit 18 winners overall, he won only 52 percent (30 of 58) of his overall service points as Zverev dominated Shelton’s second serve and won 79 percent (15 of 19) of his opponent’s second-serve return points. The victory, Zverev’s 43rd of the 2025 season, improved his head-to-head against Shelton to 4-0.

Despite problems with his breathing early in the match, in which Zverev called upon a doctor during the third-game changeover in the first set, the German No. 1 played some of his best tennis during the Cincinnati fortnight against Shelton, who came to Cincinnati after winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title last week in Toronto.

“Right now I’m not feeling too great. … I’m not sure what happened,” Zverev said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “I came out today and probably felt the best I’ve felt in a few months. Was feeling the ball incredibly well from both sides. In the first set I started feeling not so great and it got progressively worse. But I’m in the semifinals and I’ll do everything I can be be 100 percent tomorrow.”

Around the Cincinnati Open

In a season filled with surprises, 136th-ranked French qualifier Terence Atmane has been the latest surprise on the ATP Tour this week at the Cincinnati Open. After winning two qualifying draw matches, the 23-year-old from Saint-Martin-Boulogne, France, has continued his winning ways in the main draw – and winning over fans with his refreshing style of play that features a quick-strike first serve and a whip-like forehand return. He’s become everyone’s underdog done good.

In the past two days, the 6-foot-4-inch lefty Atmane has upset World No. 4 Taylor Fritz of the United States, then took out World No. 9 Holger Rune of Denmark to advance to Saturday afternoon’s semifinal round against World No. 1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner of Italy. He’s guaranteed to jump at least 67 spots in the PIF ATP Rankings to No. 69.

According to French sports daily L’Equippe, Atmane arrived in Cincinnati with no clothing sponsor, no shoe sponsor and no agent. Considering the week he’s put together for himself, that won’t be the case for very long.

Besides his impressive and inspiring wins over Fritz and Rune, Atmane has also triumphed over Yoshihito Nishioka, Flavio Cobolli and Joao Fonseca. Including his two qualifying draw match victories, he’s strung together seven straight wins in Cincinnati. 

To learn more about Atmane, one need look no further than his personal bio on the ATP Tour website to find out: He started playing tennis at age 7 at the urging of his mother, who bought him a tennis racquet and enrolled him at a local club – after he had already mastered playing tennis video games. He enjoys playing other kinds of video games such as Fortnite and Minecraft, and delights in watching animé. Atmane also is an avid reader, owns a large Pokémon card collection, calls tennis player Fernando Gonzalez his idol, and he’s been given the nickname “The Magician” because he enjoys performing slight-of-hand magic tricks with playing cards. 

Before his Cincinnati success, Atmane had compiled a 19-10 win-loss record on the ATP Challenger Tour, winning two titles last spring in Busan and Ghangzhou, and had never advanced beyond the third round at a tour-level event or achieved a Top-10 win. By reaching the semifinals in Cincinnati, Atmane has earned $332,160 in prize money, a considerable earnings since he entered the tournament with $310,376 in earnings for the entire season.

After defeating Rune to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal, Atmane said during his on-court interview with ATP Media: “I don’t think any words can describe how I feel right now. I cannot believe it. 

“Being here in the semifinals of a Masters 1000 – breaking into the Top 100 and even more with the win tonight – it’s also a lot of money for me, so it’s going to be very helpful for my career. It means a lot to me. I’m very emotional about it.”

In showcasing his all-court athleticism, Atmane grinded out a 13-minute, eight-deuce fourth game that he won on his fifth break-point opportunity to take an early 3-1 lead against Rune. It gave Atmane the impetus to succeed the rest of the way. 

“I couldn’t really sleep last night with the win against Taylor,” Atmane admitted. “I was just trying to be myself on court, trying to enjoy it as much as I can because I have nothing to lose. That’s the advantage I have of being the underdog here coming from the qualies. I think this is going to give me a lot of confidence for the rest of the year and in my career in general.”

During a studio interview with Tennis Channel‘s Prakash Amritraj Friday afternoon, Atmane was loose and carefree – happy and smiling – and at ease in sharing his life’s story. He explained that it was true that he had an IQ of 158 – representing a very high level of intelligence – and gave an reasoning for “Fermi’s paradox?!”, which is what he signed on the camera lens after he beat Rune Thursday night.

The paradox, which is named for the 20th century Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi, addresses the contradiction between the high likelihood of aliens existing and the lack of evidence for that existence. It states that if the universe is so vast, why has no other intelligent life been observed?

“I was thinking about what to sign,” Atmane said. “You know what? I learned something last week about Fermi’s paradox and I thought, ‘why not share it with everyone what I was learning about the universe and everything?’ I thought yes, it would be cool to just put it like that to see people search about the meaning. If I can make some people research smart things about the universe and the world we are living in, to me it’s a bonus.”

For everyone, Atmane’s new-found success and his rise to the last four has been a pleasant and refreshing surprise. Win or lose against Sinner, it will be a week he will never forget.

Friday’s Cincinnati Open results

Saturday’s Cincinnati Open order of play

By the numbers

• Terence Atmane is the first Frenchman to reach the Cincinnati Open semifinals since Richard Gasquet in 2019. He’s also the eighth lowest-ranked ATP Masters 1000 semifinalist in series history.

• Alexander Zverev has won 16 of his last 18 matches at the Cincinnati Open. His only two set backs have been semifinal losses in 2023 to Novak Djokovic and last year to Jannik Sinner.

“Quotable …”

“Jannik is, I think, the most incredible player that we have ever seen in our entire lifetime. So, it’s going to be very interesting to be able to play someone like him, who brings so many incredible things to the tennis world. It’s going to be an interesting challenge for me.”

– Qualifier Terence Atmane of France, during a sit down interview with Tennis Channel Friday afternoon, looking ahead to his semifinal match with World No. 1 and defending Cincinnati Open champion Jannik Sinner.

 

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