Cincinnati Masters: Zverev overpowers Shelton, Alcaraz next

German Alexander Zverev, the No 3 seed, moved into the last four of the Cincinnati Masters by defeating American Ben Shelton, the No 5 seed, 6-2, 6-2 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Friday night. The match lasted only 1 hour and 17 minutes. Shelton lost half of his service games without breaking Zverev.

Zverev produced a clinical performance, stifling Shelton’s powerful game and never allowing the American to find his rhythm. From the start, Zverev dictated play with his precision off the ground and consistency on serve, breaking Shelton twice in each set and facing only one break point himself, which he saved.

Shelton, coming off a recent title run in Toronto, showed signs of fatigue and struggled to match Zverev’s level, committing a 16 unforced errors as his baseline shots lacked accuracy. Zverev’s aggressive returns and steady service games left no room for a comeback. 

Despite a good number of aces and decent stats with his first serve, Shelton was totally outplayed on the second serve, winning only 4 points on 21 attempts.

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Cincinnati Masters: Alcaraz books spot in last four, defeating Rublev 7-5 in the third

Tennis Majors

4-0 for Zverev against Shelton

With this scoreline, Zverev improves his head-to-head record against Shelton to 4-0. It’s the German’s first Top 10 this season with a completed match, eight months after Novan Djokovic’s retirement at the Australian Open. The German, ranked No 3, will face Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the second seed, next.

Zverev is now 16-2 in Cincinnati since winning the title in 2021. At the previous rounds of the Cincinnati tournament, the German won against Russian Karen Khachanov, the No 14 seed (7-5, 3-0 ret.), American Brandon Nakashima, the No 27 seed (6-4, 6-4) and American wildcard Nishesh Basavareddy (6-3, 6-3).

Shelton extended his match winning streak to nine after capturing first ATP Masters 1000 title in Toronto last week. In Cincinnati, he beat Czech Jiri Lehecka, the No 22 seed (6-4, 6-4), Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut (7-6 (3), 6-3) and Argentinian Camilo Ugo Carabelli (6-3, 3-1 ret.). But he is still 0-13 against Top 3 players.

Cincinnati Masters 1000, other quarter-finals results (Lindner Family Tennis Center, hard, USD 9.193.540, most recent results first):

• Carlos Alcaraz beat Andrey Rublev (9): 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
• Terence Atmane (Q) beat Holger Rune (7): 6-2, 6-3
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (23): 6-0, 6-2