Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will meet for the 14th time on the ATP Tour when they contest the Cincinnati Open final.
Sinner is looking to defend his 2024 title, while Alcaraz will be hoping to go one step further than in 2023, when he lost a marathon final to Novak Djokovic.
Alcaraz leads their head-to-head record by eight wins to five. However, the Italian won their most recent encounter: the Wimbledon Men’s Singles final.
The Spaniard recently said it only took him a few hours to overcome the defeat, and he will be hoping for revenge on Monday evening.
The pair have now met in a number of finals on the ATP Tour, dating back to the 2022 Umag Open in Croatia. The match went to a deciding set, with Sinner emerging the victor.
Jannik Sinner described the ‘crucial point’ of the match which helped turn around the 2022 Umag Open final
In 2022, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner arrived at the Umag Open as the top two seeds. They would eventually meet in the final, with Sinner winning a titanic contest.
Sinner, who won 6-7 6-1 6-1, reflected on his victory after the match.
As reported by TNT Sports in 2022, Sinner said after the match: “I am obviously very happy.
“I have [had] a tough year until now, I had some unfortunate moments, but we worked every time to play better, to be a better player, to be a better person.
“I’m very happy to be finally lifting a trophy this year, but I know that I still have a lot of things to improve… It’s all about the process.”
Sinner found himself in a hole in the second set. The Italian had lost the first set 6-7 and was 0-1 down in the second set.
In the second game of the second set, Alcaraz engineered six break-point opportunities, but was unable to convert any of them.
Sinner went on to win the game, and the match.
Speaking about that particular game, Sinner said: “That was a crucial point… I knew I had to stay there.
“He made some unforced errors, so I’m very happy that I won this game, and then after I returned well, and then I raised my level a bit – I think I found a solution.”
Alcaraz’s revenge at the 2022 US Open
Just two months later, Alcaraz had his revenge against the Italian.
The Spaniard won a remarkable contest against Sinner, claiming victory by a scoreline of 6-3 6-7 6-7 7-5 6-3.
Alcaraz would go on to win his first Grand Slam title at that tournament, defeating Norwegian star Casper Ruud in the final.
The Spaniard has since captured a further four Grand Slam titles, most recently at the 2025 French Open.
