The 2nd semifinal match in the men's draw played Saturday evening in the 2025 Cincinnati Open. World #2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain took on world #3 Alexander 'Sascha' Zverev of Germany for a chance to play Jannik Sinner in the final on Monday.
For Alcaraz, the road to the semis saw him, after a 1st round bye, defeat Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina in round 2, Serbia's Hamad Medjedovic in the 3rd round, Luca Nardi of Italy in the round of 16, and Russian Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinal.
For Zverev, after his 1st round bye, he beat American Nishesh Basavareddy in the 2nd round, American Brandon Nakashima in the 3rd, Russian Karen Khachanov in the round of 16, and his 3rd American of the tournament Ben Shelton in the quarterfinal to set up this matchup.
The match started fast with both men using big serves to hold. At 3-3 Alcaraz would take the first service break from Zverev and then hold the rest of the way to win the set. The second set would see both men get a service break before Zverev would hold at 2-1. Zverev would take a brief medical timeout for an illness. After play resumed, both men would then hold again until 3-3. Alcaraz would strike again on Zverev taking another service break. Alcaraz would hold before breaking Zverev again, and take the match.
Carlos Alcaraz defeats Alexander 'Sascha Zverev 6-4,6-3
Alcaraz now moves on to the final where he will face world #1 Jannik Sinner in a #1 vs #2 matchup. It is Carlos' 1st trip back to the finals since 2023 when he lost to Novak Djokovic. This will also be the 4th meeting between the 2 in a final this year (Masters1000 Rome, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon) and the first on hard court since the ATP500 in Beijing in 2024.
Check out photos from this match below.