CINCINNATI/WASHINGTON, August 18, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)
For just the third time in PIF ATP Rankings history, the World No. 1 and World No. 2 players contested the men’s singles final at Cincinnati Open Monday afternoon.
Unfortunately, defending champion and No. 1 Jannik Sinner appeared out of sorts from the start against No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, who was attempting to win his first title in Cincinnati after squandering a championship point against Novak Djokovic in the 2023 final, and retired.
The 2025 title match, contested on a sunny and hot afternoon – where the temperature at match time reached 86º Fahrenheit (30º Celsius) – lasted just 23 minutes and it ended with Alcaraz leading 5-0, after breaking the Italian’s serve three times.
— Cincinnati Open (@CincyTennis) August 18, 2025
It was Sinner’s sixth career retirement – and first in a final. The loss ended his 26-match winning streak on hard courts.
Coming in, the 22-year-old Alcaraz led the head-to-head with Sinner 8-5, including 5-2 in their hard-court matches. This was the fourth time the two talented players have met this season. While the Spaniard won the first two meetings – in the finals of the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome and the title match at Roland-Garros – Sinner won the most recent clash, a comeback four-set victory at Wimbledon.
Sinner, who turned 24 on Saturday, came into Monday’s final at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on a 12-match winning streak after winning his first Wimbledon Championships title in July – and a nine-match winning streak in Cincinnati, after winning last year’s title. He was attempting to become the first repeat Cincinnati men’s champion since Roger Federer in 2014-15.
Sinner had won each of his five matches in this year’s Cincinnati Open by straight sets. He sought his 21st tour-level title (he’s now 20-8 in finals) and aimed to successfully defend a tour-level title for the third time in his career – and to extend his 26-match winning streak on hard courts, since losing to Alcaraz in the Beijing final last year.
Meanwhile, Alcaraz came into the title match leading the ATP Tour in wins (53) and titles (5) this season and had gone 38-2 since April. After winning by retirement, he’s now won 17 straight at ATP Masters 1000 level. It’s the 22nd tour-level title of his career – sixth of the season – and eighth at ATP Masters 1000 level.
Feel better soon, Jannik.
Congratulations to Carlos, our new champion. pic.twitter.com/FAlgT8YUud
— Cincinnati Open (@CincyTennis) August 18, 2025
With his win, Alcaraz is the first player since Djokovic and Andy Murray in 2015 to earn 54-plus wins before heading to the US Open.
From the outset, Alcaraz jumped out to a triple-break 5-0 lead in the championship final. He broke Sinner at love to begin the match and continued to take advantage of his opponent’s lack of power and vigor on his groundstrokes. It was during the changeover after the fifth game that Sinner consulted a physio and decided to end the title match and retire.
Alcaraz, who finished with two winners against one unforced error, won 83 percent (5 of 6) of his first-serve points converted three of six break points and outpointed Sinner 21-8. By comparison, Sinner won 50 percent (4 of 8) of his first-serve points but was 0-for-8 on second-serve points. He hit four winners but committed 10 unforced errors.
Carlos and the Rookwood Cup pic.twitter.com/w8hvtEgwa0
— Cincinnati Open (@CincyTennis) August 18, 2025
After the anti-climatic finish, the trophy ceremony, as one might imagine, was subdued.
“I’m super, super sorry to disappoint you,” Sinner said, addressing the capacity crowd that filled P&G Center Court. “From yesterday I didn’t feel great. I thought that I would improve during the night, but it came up worse. I tried to come out, tried to make it at least a small match, but I couldn’t handle more, so I’m very sorry.”
Feel better, Jannik
— Cincinnati Open (@CincyTennis) August 18, 2025
When it was Alcaraz’s turn to speak, after receiving his hand-painted Rookwood Cup champion’s trophy, he addressed Sinner by saying: “This is not the way that I want to win trophies, I just have to say sorry, I can understand how you must feel now.
“As I said many times, you are a true champion and I am sure from these situations, you are going to come back even stronger, as you always do. That’s what true champions do. I’m sorry and come back stronger.”
Love from Carlos ❤️
— Cincinnati Open (@CincyTennis) August 18, 2025
During his post-match news conference, Sinner addressed the matter of his health.
“Yes, of course, disappointed,” he said. “Didn’t feel great from yesterday. Also during the night, I thought I would recover a bit better, but it was not the case. And I just tried to go out for the fans, trying to give, you know, a match. You know, that’s the reason why I went on the court, but it was not meant to be for me today.
“So, you know, it happens. And, but another way, I don’t want to take anything away from Carlos. He had a great week, great, great tournament again. And, and now the main focus, obviously, is for the US Open. And yeah, now recovery is the most important. And then we see.”
Alcaraz was asked during his champion’s news conference how soon he picked up on Sinner’s body language and knew his opponent might not be able to finish the final. He said: “Well, I think after the third game, I just noticed that he, he wasn’t feeling, feeling good at all. I know him. I’ve been battling against him, you know, the last two, two years, having great matches, great battles. And I know his style. I know his game.
“And yeah, after the third game, I noticed that he was more aggressive than he used to be. He was missing more more often, more often and before the third shot. That is pretty weird from him. So, I just noticed him that the body language, he wasn’t, it wasn’t the best for him. So yeah, it was about in the third game that I noticed he wasn’t feeling good.”
By the numbers
Carlos Alcaraz became the third Spaniard to win the Cincinnati Open men’s title following Carlos Moya (2002) and Rafael Nadal (2013).
“Quotable …”
“Yeah, I feel like a very positive week. I mean, making finals of a Masters event, it’s always an amazing achievement. I feel like in the season I’m playing, it’s an incredible season.
“So we’ll keep going, keep pushing as I say. Now I have already some points where I need to improve if I want to go far in the US Open. And it was a good test this week, trying to understand where my level is. My level is, is in a good spot, for sure, but in the other way, there’s still room to improve.”
– Jannik Sinner, during his post-match news conference, commenting on his second-straight run to the Cincinnati Open final and looking ahead to the US Open, which begins Sunday.
