World number two Carlos Alcaraz fought off a fierce challenge from Andrey Rublev to reach the semifinals of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Friday.
Spain’s Alcaraz broke Rublev in the final game of a tense duel to emerge a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 winner and will face third-seeded Alexander Zverev, who brought the winning run of fifth-seeded Toronto champion American Ben Shelton to its end with a 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Germany’s Zverev complained of feeling dizzy and out of breath as he led by a set and a break, but benefitted from 27 unforced errors from a listless Shelton over 76 minutes.
Zverev earned a 4-1 lead in the second set as Sheldon angrily tossed his racquet on the changeover, and the 2021 champion polished off the win on a second match point and now has 24 hours to try and get fit.
“I’m not feeling too great now, but I have a day to get fresh. I hope to be at 100%,” Zverev said.
“I’m not sure what happened. I felt very well, but at the end of the first set, it got progressively worse. But I’ll do all I can to give it a shot tomorrow,” he added.
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Alcaraz was broken while serving for victory at 5-4 in the final set against 11th-ranked Rublev, but he found his focus and used his trademark grit to come through for the victory three games later.
He sealed the triumph as an emotional Rublev hit an eighth double-fault on match point.
Alcaraz, the 2023 runner-up in Cincinnati, earned his 14th consecutive Masters 1000 win after winning this year in Monte Carlo and Rome.
He also held onto his lead in the season match-win category with his 52nd and stands 37-2 since the start of April after winning five titles so far in 2025.
“I maintained the positive thoughts even if I lost focus a bit in the second set. Against Andrey, if you lose focus, it can cost you the set — or the match. In the third set, I wasn’t hitting the first serve, lost focus, and he broke. (Fighting back) is what I’m most proud of. I had to be accepting of the moment, but I love that — playing in extreme conditions with all of this (crowd) energy,” Alcaraz said.
