Carlos Alcaraz came inches closer to retaining his crown at Wimbledon for the third consecutive time, but Jannik Sinner had spoiled his plans. Following that four-set thriller at SW19, Alcaraz took a short break and withdrew his name from the Canadian Open. However, despite the withdrawal, he made his fans aware of upcoming goals by saying, “I’m ready for the challenge right now; my first goal is to regain the first position in the ranking. Now I’m preparing for the American tournaments in order to get in top shape for the US Open.”
Talking about his preparations for the 2025 US Open, Carlos Alcaraz started his campaign with a shaky performance against the number 56, Damir Džumhur. He took three sets to beat the Bosnian. However, following that match, Alcaraz managed to secure his next two matches in straight sets. But then again, he was forced to play three sets against the world number 11, Andrey Rublev! Before that match, the Russian claimed, “Against players like that (Alcaraz), you have to play at that level for four hours without losing focus even slightly.”
Although it didn’t go to four hours, it still took 2 hours and 17 minutes to decide the winner of this epic battle. With his 6-3,4-6,7-5 win against Rublev in the QF, Carlos Alcaraz has not only secured a spot in the SF, where he would be facing Alexander Zverev, but also added a new feather to his cap. Alcaraz now has a win rate of 78.1% (82-23) at the ATP Masters 1000 events, surpassing Roger Federer (77.9%) and Jannik Sinner (76.3%). With these incredible stats, he is now the third-best player since the format’s inception in 1990 – minimum of 10 matches. He currently trails only to “idol” Rafael Nadal (82%) and his fierce rival, Novak Djokovic (81.5%).
Since Nadal has already retired from the sport, he has nothing to add, but Djokovic is still active on the Tour. Not only that, the Serb also has a 5-3 record against Carlos Alcaraz! It will be interesting to see if he can surpass Djokovic’s record in the near future.
78.1 – Carlos Alcaraz now has a win rate of 78.1% (82-23) at ATP Masters 1000 events, surpassing Roger Federer (77.9%) for the outright third-best of any player since the format’s inception in 1990 – minimum 10 matches. Company.#CincyTennis | @CincyTennis @atptour @ATPMediaInfo pic.twitter.com/ybw8o6loLF
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) August 15, 2025
Carlos Alcaraz has seven Masters 1000 titles in his bag, and with this win, he has now secured a spot in the SF of the Masters for the 12th time in his career. Interestingly, the Spaniard has now also won 37 of his last 39 matches! Alcaraz’s best record at the Cincinnati Open has been reaching the final in 2023, where he lost to Novak Djokovic in three sets. Can he change his fortunes, this time? Time will tell! But before that, let’s find out what he had to say after securing his spot in the semis.
Carlos Alcaraz reflects on his thoughts on hard hard-fought battle against Andrey Rublev
In the R16 match against Luca Nardi, Carlos Alcaraz looked a bit annoyed when the chair umpire, Greg Allensworth, asked him to cover his sponsor Evian’s logo on his water bottle. He was seen refusing to do that at that time, but in his match against Andrey Rublev, we saw a different picture! This time, he proudly showed off his water bottle to the chair umpire, Mohamed Lahyani, and emphasized that there was “no brand” advertised on it.
Coming to the match, this was the tenth time this year that Carlos Alcaraz dropped the second set after winning the first one in a best-of-three format. He has won nine of those clashes, and now, after his victory against a strong opponent like Rublev, he said, “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.”
With this win, he has now taken his H2H record to 4-1 against the Russian. Speaking about the match in his post-match interview, Carlos Alcaraz further added, “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.”
He revealed how he maintained positive thoughts all the time, despite some hiccups in this epic duel. “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,” said Alcaraz.
Plenty of emotions went through his mind after this match as we saw him tossing his racket aside, tugging his shirt as if he was ready to rip it off, and then followed by a fiery, high-flying fist pump. Carlos Alcaraz’s unusual celebration did manage to raise a few eyebrows after this match, but this moment portrayed how much this win meant to him. He currently holds a 1,540 lead over Jannik Sinner in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. Can he increase that gap further by clinching the title in Cincinnati?
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