Washington (EFE).- Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz defeated Russian Andrey Rublev this Friday and qualified for the semifinals of the Cincinnati Masters 1,000, where he will face the winner of the series between German Alexander Zverev and American Ben Shelton.
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Alcaraz, world number 2, defeated Rublev with partials of 6-3, 4-6 and 7-5 in 2 hours and 17 minutes.
Rublev – world number 11 – was the first significant opponent for the Murcian in Cincinnati after having defeated, in this order, Bosnian Damir Dzumhur (number 56), Serbian Hamad Medjedovic (number 72) in the third round, and Italian Luca Nardi (number 98).
Photograph of Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev during his match with Carlos Alcaraz at the Cincinnati Open, in Mason, Ohio (USA). EFE/EPA/ Mark Lyons
Friday’s match was Alcaraz’s 52nd victory in 2025, more than any of his rivals, and his 15th consecutive in a Masters 1,000 tournament, after having won Monte Carlo in April and Rome in May.
An agonizing duel
Alcaraz played a comfortable first set, with an early break on Rublev’s serve for 3-1.
The Muscovite, visibly unfocused, spent a good part of the set arguing with the chair umpire about the time he was given to serve.
With the ‘break’ advantage, Alcaraz added a second break in the final game of the set to take it 6-3.
But Rublev came back into the match in the second set, becoming strong on his serve.
With the score at 3-3, the Russian took advantage of the first ‘break’ point in his favor of the match to break Alcaraz, who could not recover the game and conceded the set by 4-6.
The ghost of the 2024 Madrid Masters 1,000 then flew over Cincinnati: the only time Rublev defeated Alcaraz was there, coming back from a first set deficit.
In the final set, with 4-3 and service for Rublev, Alcaraz went 15-40 and took advantage of the first of the two ‘break’ balls to go 5-3 and serving to win the match, a blow that seemed definitive.
But Rublev showed his survival instinct to also get the ‘break’ back.
Alcaraz went up 6-5 and was serving to avoid the tie-break. It was in that game that Rublev lost for the first time the patience he had managed to maintain and it cost him dearly: two double faults that cost him the game and the match.
Who will be Carlos Alcaraz’s opponent in the Cincinnati semi-finals?
Alcaraz’s semi-final opponent will be decided tonight in the quarter-final match between German Alexander Zverev (world number 3) and American Ben Shelton (number 6).
For the other half of the draw, also in the semifinals, advances the number 1 in the world, the Italian Jannik Sinner, who tomorrow will face the French Terence Atmane (number 136), who has become the surprise of the tournament.
Both semi-finals will be played this Saturday and the final will be on Monday.
