Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner Set To Play ‘Beautiful Tennis’ In Cincinnati Final

LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 13: Jannik Sinner of Italy poses with the Gentlemen’s Singles Trophy alongside Carlos Alcaraz of Spain with the Gentlemen’s Singles Runner-Up Trophy after the Gentlemen’s Singles Final on day fourteen of The Championships Wimbledon 2025 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 13, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

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The “Big 3” Era in men’s tennis has quickly given way to the “New 2.”

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz have won the last six Grand Slam titles and are the two favorites to win a seventh straight at the upcoming U.S. Open.

Before the final Grand Slam of the year, the two rivals will meet in the Cincinnati Open final on Monday (3 p.m. ET, Tennis Channel).

“I’m really looking forward to playing against him once again,” Alcaraz said after dispatching world No. 3 Alexander Zverev, 6-4, 6-3 in Saturday’s semifinals to reach his seventh straight final. “We raise our level to the top and we bring a really beautiful tennis to the match. I’m ready to take the challenge. I’m ready to see the things that I did wrong in the last match and trying to be better on that side on Monday.”

Alcaraz leads the head-to-head 8-5 and had won five straight before Sinner beat the Spaniard in four sets in the Wimbledon final. Alcaraz leads 3-2 in finals.

In the aftermath of the “Big 3” Era, Sinner, 24, and Alcaraz, 22, have quickly stepped up to dominate the sport, pushing aside an older group of players born in the 1990s.

Only two players born in the ’90s have won a Grand Slam title: Dominic Thiem (born in 1993) at the U.S. Open in 2020 and Daniil Medvedev (born in 1996) at the same tournament the following year.

“We came out of the era of the ‘Big 3,’ the ‘Big 4,’and this is now the era of the ‘New 2.’ That’s who these guys are,” two-time French Open champion Jim Courier said earlier this summer.

After beating Alcaraz in four sets in the Wimbledon final to avenge his five-set loss in the Roland Garros final, Sinner holds four major titles while Alcaraz has won five Grand Slam titles and is the youngest man to win majors on all three surfaces.

In the Cincinnati semis, Sinner ended the run of upstart Frenchman Terence Atmane, 7-6(4), 6-2, on Sinner’s 24th birthday.

With his 86-minute victory, during which he did not face a break point, the No. 1 player in the world recorded his 200th tour-level win on hard courts and extended his winning streak on the surface to 26 matches.

Atmane had beaten Top-10 players Taylor Fritz and Holger Rune on the run to his first ATP Tour semifinal.

“It was a very, very tough challenge,” said Sinner. “Every time you play against something completely new, it’s difficult, but playing against this guy in the later stages of a tournament is even more difficult. The pressure is higher and you know they deserve to be there… He has beaten incredible players throughout his wins.

“I knew that I had to be very careful, and my mindset was in a good spot. I felt like I handled the situations on the court very well. He was serving incredibly well in the first set. He has huge, huge potential, and I think we saw that in the tournament.”

Entering the U.S. Open, Sinner and Alcaraz are the two heavy favorites, with 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic (who skipped Cincinnati) a distant third, followed by American Ben Shelton, Zverev, Britain’s Jack Draper and Fritz, the reigning U.S. Open finalist.

“It’s pretty clear that there’s a big gap between them and the rest of the field,” Courier said this summer. “…So for me, this is the ‘New 2.’

“We’re really in the early innings of it. They’re healthy. It looks like they’re going to be dominant for a long time.”