It became a relatively easy warm-up for the two in the form of their respective semifinals in the ATP tournament in Cincinnati.
First out was Sinner, who was pitted against the French surprise player Terence Atmane, whose journey to the semi began with him qualifying.
In the first set, the Frenchman also put up a good fight, but the Italian eventually managed to win it in a tiebreak. Set two became a decidedly more one-sided story and after a total of one hour and 27 minutes of play, the four-time Grand Slam winner stood as the winner with the numbers 7–6 (7–4), 6–2.
It's a very, very tough challenge to play against a new opponent, said Sinner after the match, to AP.
A harder task awaited
For Alcaraz, a significantly harder task awaited when he was pitted against Alexander Zverev from Germany, ranked third in the world, shortly after midnight. The Spaniard - who has won five Grand Slam titles - also managed to win in straight sets after the German, who has diabetes, took a medical timeout early in the second set and then had trouble getting up to par.
Although Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are relatively young - 24 and 22 years old respectively - the rivalry between them has already become something of a classic. This year, they have met three times so far, two of which were Grand Slam finals.
The first of these was the French Open, which Alcaraz won in a sensational way after first having been behind by two sets and then having to save three match points in a row.
Got revenge
Sinner got his revenge when he a few weeks later beat his main opponent in Wimbledon with 3–1 and thus secured the title.
We always bring out our best tennis (against each other). We raise the level. I'm ready for the challenge, said Alcaraz to AP regarding the upcoming rivalry meeting.
The final in Cincinnati will be played on Sunday evening Swedish time.
