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CINCINNATI: World number one Jannik Sinner and hot rival Carlos Alcaraz will face off in a major final for the fourth time this season after both booked straight-set wins into the title match at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Saturday.

Defending champion Sinner ruthlessly subdued 136th-ranked qualifier Terence Atmane 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 while Spanish second seed Alcaraz defeated an ailing Alexander Zverev, who was suffering badly from the 32 Celsius heat and humidity, by 6-4, 6-3.

Alcaraz and Sinner have played for trophies this season in Rome, Roland Garros and Wimbledon, with the Italian winning their most recent at the All England Club last month.

Sinner, celebrating his 24th birthday, ended Frenchman Atmane’s dream run and will now try to become the first man since Roger Federer in 2014-15 to win back-to-back titles in Cincinnati.

Sinner, tuning up for the US Open in his first tournament since winning Wimbledon, hasn’t dropped a set en route to the final.

“It’s a very, very tough challenge every time you play a new opponent,” Sinner said. “In the later stages of the tournament,the pressure is on, they deserve to be there.”

Alcaraz will also be playing in his second Cincy final after losing to Novak Djokovic in 2023.

The Spaniard increased his ATP season match win lead to 53 in a year of five titles.

Alcaraz broke Zverev once in the opening set to claim it before the German, who is diabetic, began feeling poorly and took a medical timeout off court after the third game of the second set.

Zverev, who has retired in only two matches since 2014, came back out to finish what was a patchy match from Alcaraz, who double-faulted for times in the second game of the second set but won the last 12 points with Zverev running on fumes.

“We started well with good rallies, a good level,” Alcaraz said. “All of a sudden, he felt bad and I was thinking more about how he was feeling instead of playing good tennis.

“It was tough and I just wish him all the best.”

Alcaraz said he is keen to try and take his Wimbledon revenge on Sinner in the unorthodox Monday final.

“We always bring our best tennis. We raise each other’s level. I’m ready to take the challenge,” Alcaraz said.

“I will try and adjust my game better and correct what I did wrong in our last match. I want to be ready with my 100 percent. Mentally I’ll be ready – I’m excited for Monday.”

Atmane gave birthday boy Sinner a Pokemon card shortly before they went on court, but he was in a less giving mood once they were underway.

But Sinner surrendered just three points in his first six service games as they went to the tiebreaker with neither man facing a break point.

Atmane double faulted on the first point of the decider and Sinner was away, powering to a 5-2 lead and pocketing the set at his second opportunity.

“My experience helped in the first set,” he said. “I’m very happy to go through to another final.

“I tried to focus on myself, how I usually play, and then try to adapt a little bit to his game style,” Sinner said. “And that’s exactly what I did today.

“The pressure was on me. That’s normal in the position where I am in – he was ready to fight.”

“My goal has always been the US Open, But we have put in the work here, in the gym and in practice. I just hope to be ready for New York.”

Sinner showed a first sign of vulnerability as he needed five game points to hold serve in the opening game of the second set.

But that was the closest look Atmane got at his serve, and Sinner broke the Frenchman for a 3-1 lead and again to seal the match.

Atmane, who is projected to crack the top 70 in the world rankings, became Sinner’s 22nd straight French victim since May 2021, when he lost to Arthur Rinderknech in Lyon.

CINCINNATI: Defending champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka booked quarterfinal berths at the rain-hit ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Wednesday with straight-set wins.

Sinner shrugged off a mid-match rain interruption lasting nearly three hours as he advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Adrian Mannarino.

He next faces Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, who beat Benjamin Bonzi of France 6-4, 6-3.

Sabalenka, taken to three sets in her previous match with Emma Raducanu, defeated Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-1, 7-5, winning a season-leading 50th match of 2025 and reaching her 29th career last-eight at the elite 1000 level.

Sabalenka had to work after surrendering a second-set break, but she broke Bouzas Maneiro in the final game to seal the victory.

“The key was to focus and put as much pressure as possible on her serve,” Sabalenka said. “I was up a break, made a couple of mistakes and she broke me back.

“I’m glad to win in straight sets — I didn’t want to stay for three hours.”

World No. 1 Sinner, playing his first tournament since lifting the trophy at Wimbledon, notched his 24th consecutive hardcourt match win to gain his fifth quarterfinal of the season.

The victory required patience, with the Italian who turns 24 on Saturday passing some of the afternoon weather pause by playing cards with his team.

Sinner had won the first set and they were on serve in the second when they returned, but Frenchman’s tricky game took a toll as Sinner was broken while trying to serve out the match.

The second set instead went to a tiebreak, with the Italian firing his 11th and 12th aces to clinch victory.

“He’s a very difficult opponent, different from the other players,” Sinner said. “He can read the opponent well.

“It was a struggle to close it out, but I’m happy to be in the quarterfinals.”

Earlier former champion Alexander Zverev polished off a weather-hit third-round victory, winning the final four points of a 6-4, 6-4 win over Brandon Nakashima.

The entire one-game exercise, with 2021 Cincy winner Zverev leading 6-4, 5-4 when play resumed, took less than two minutes, with the third seed set for a later fourth-round encounter against Toronto finalist Karen Khachanov.

Fifth seed Ben Shelton, last week’s Toronto winner, reached the fourth round with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, victory over Roberto Bautista Agut in a match rescheduled from Tuesday.

Women’s third seed Iga Swiatek and men’s seventh seed Holger Rune both booked quarterfinal berths before afternoon showers struck.

Wimbledon champion Swiatek beat Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-3, overcoming 33 unforced errors in a 95-minute victory.

“I wanted to be more solid than in my last match,” Swiatek said. “I’m happy with the level of my focus and the consistency.”

Rune advanced as 2024 finalist Frances Tiafoe retired with lower back pain with Denmark’s Rune up 6-4, 3-1.

The match was a re-run of a quarterfinal here a year ago, won by the American who went on to fall to Sinner in the final.

Tiafoe received treatment on his back but it didn’t seem to help as Rune gained control.

The American walked dejectedly off court, carrying only a pair of shoes while an official carted away his massive tennis bag.

Rune, bothered this season by his own injury worries, secured his 100th career hard-court win and his first defeat of a top 20 opponent since he beat Carlos Alcaraz in the Barcelona final in April.

In another match interrupted on Tuesday, Magda Linette reached the fourth round at Cincinnati for the first time with a 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-3 upset of fourth-seeded American Jessica Pegula.