Andrey Rublev survived a marathon to reach the round of 16 at the Cincinnati Open, prevailing in a three-and-a-half hour test against Alexei Popyrin. The No. 9 seed recovered after losing the first set to edge 21st-seeded Popyrin, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5.

Popyrin produced 20 aces and Rublev nearly matched him with 18, but a late break proved decisive. At 6-5, 30-0 for Popyrin, Rublev delivered a telling sequence of returns to take the game and swing the match his way. “I was trying to fight, to keep believing. In the end, somehow out of nowhere at 6-5, 30-0 for him, I make amazing returns. I was able to break him,” Rublev told Prakash Amritraj during a live interview on Tennis Channel. “Both of us deserved to win.”

Rublev saved five of the six break points he faced and moved on after a comeback that continued a theme of recent rematches at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. In the second round he reversed a recent loss to Learner Tien, flipping the script after the American had prevailed in Washington, D.C. The victory over Popyrin was Rublev’s first match against the Australian since their 2024 Montreal final, a result the Russian has had in mind.

His next opponent, Francisco Comesana, stunned Reilly Opelka 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5 to advance. Comesana also beat Rublev in the first round at Wimbledon last year, and Rublev acknowledged the pattern in the draw. “It’s gonna be a great challenge for me, because I lost to him the only time we played each other last year in Wimbledon. Looks like this tournament, the draw are rematches,” he said. “First match with Tien, today with Alexei, now again Comesana. I am facing all the players that I lost to. Let’s see where I can get.”

Players have also remarked on the tournament’s extensive renovations. Rublev called the changes “a huge upgrade” and praised the new food access and facilities. © Anita T. Aguilar

Carlos Alcaraz moved to 50 match wins for the year with a straight-sets victory at the Cincinnati Open, defeating Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday. The 22-year-old had been pushed to three sets two days earlier, but produced a cleaner performance against his fellow 22-year-old to register the milestone.

Alcaraz is the first player, male or female, to reach 50 wins in 2025. On the men’s tour Alexander Zverev has the next-most wins with 40, while on the women’s side Aryna Sabalenka leads with 49. Jessica Pegula can move closer to that group: she would notch her 38th victory of the year if she wins her third-round match against Magda Linette tonight.

The win in Cincinnati also continued two longer-running threads. With his victory over Medjedovic, Alcaraz remains unbeaten against players younger than him; he is now 10-0 versus younger opponents. More broadly, Alcaraz is the only man to record 50 or more match wins in each of the last four seasons. No other male player can join him in that distinction, because he was the only man to reach 50 wins in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

There is one woman who can match that four-year consistency: Iga Swiatek. Swiatek won 67 matches in 2022, 68 matches in 2023 and 64 matches in 2024, the only woman with those three totals in that span.

Alcaraz’s Cincinnati victory is therefore both a stand-alone milestone and another entry in a sustained run of high-volume winning. The 50th win underscores his place at the top of the season-long charts and highlights how few players, male or female, have combined volume and consistency across multiple seasons.

© 2025 Daniel Kopatsch

Ben Shelton arrives in Cincinnati on a sustained run of form that has reshaped expectations. He has won 14 of his last 16 matches, a sequence that includes a quarterfinal showing at Wimbledon, a semifinal in Washington D.C., and the biggest title of his career at the Masters 1000 event in Toronto last week.

That stretch has propelled Shelton up the rankings, from No. 10 to No. 6, and placed a Top 5 return within reach depending on his result in Cincinnati. The No. 5-seeded American will look to maintain momentum when he meets Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round.

Bautista Agut has progressed here without dropping a set. His run to the third round included a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 32-seeded Cam Norrie in the second round. The Spanish veteran brings a long history of victories over top opponents, with 22 career wins over Top 10 players. Among those is a notable victory at this event against Daniil Medvedev in 2020, when the tournament was held in New York.

For Shelton the match presents both challenge and opportunity. His recent results underline an ability to close out big matches and to convert form into ranking gains. Bautista Agut’s experience and proven record against elite players make him a dangerous opponent, especially given his straight-set progress to this stage.

The match is scheduled to begin at 8:10 p.m. ET on Tuesday, August 12. The encounter promises a contrast of youth and momentum against steadiness and experience, with ranking implications for Shelton and a veteran seeking another scalp for Bautista Agut.