Saturday features semifinals in men’s singles, men’s doubles, and women’s doubles.
The ATP singles semifinals feature three of the top four players in the world, surprisingly joined by the 136th player in the world. The first semifinal sees World No.1 Jannik Sinner face qualifier Terence Atmane, who has become the breakout star of this tournament with his thrilling play. The second semifinal is a rematch of last year’s dramatic championship match at Roland Garros, between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s two most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule. Saturday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Jannik Sinner (1) vs. Terence Atmane (Q) – Not Before 3:00pm on Center Court
Despite missing three months of the season, Sinner is now 30-3 during 2025, and is on a 25-match win streak on hard courts. In the last round, he simply demolished Felix Auger-Aliassime by a score of 6-0, 6-2, as he’s yet to drop a set through four rounds in Cincy. The defending champion is looking to reach his fourth Masters 1000 final in as many appearances at this level, though this is just his third Masters event since his title run a year ago.
Atmane is a 23-year-old left-handed Frenchman who prior to this tournament had never advanced beyond the third round of any ATP event. Since the beginning of the qualifying rounds last week, he’s won seven consecutive matches, only losing two sets during that span. Terence has defeated two top 10 players (Fritz, Rune), which are the first top 10 victories of his career. He played an amazing level of tennis in his quarterfinal against Rune, winning 28 of 33 first serve points, and breaking Holger seven times. Atmane plays a very aggressive, risk-taking style of tennis, which is tough to counteract when he’s as confident as he is now.
In their first career meeting, Sinner is of course the favorite, as he is right now against absolutely anyone on this surface. But I am most curious to see how Atmane performs against the World No.1. Despite this being the biggest match of his career, Terence may play rather freely, knowing what an underdog he is considered.
Alexander Zvevev (3) vs. Carlos Alcaraz (2) – Not Before 6:00pm on Center Court
Alcaraz survived a grueling contest during the heat of the afternoon on Friday against Andrey Rublev, eventually prevailing 7-5 in the third. That brought his 2025 record to 52-6 overall, though four of those losses have come on hard courts. He also lost a set in his opening round against Damir Dzumhur, as he vies for his second Cincinnati final, after the heartbreaking championship match he lost two years ago to Novak Djokovic.
Zverev knows plenty about heartbreaking losses, as his loss in the 2024 Roland Garros final to Alcaraz was an extremely painful one. Despite holding a two-sets-to-one lead, the German managed only three games between the last two sets. After getting thumped in a third Major final this past January, Sascha’s results have suffered. But he seems to be rediscovering his confidence, as this is a second straight Masters semifinal, after being defeated in a close semifinal last week in Toronto by Karen Khachanov. Zverev hasn’t dropped a set through four rounds in Cincy.
Overall, Sascha leads their head-to-head 6-5, and has a more dominant 5-2 edge on hard courts. In addition, he will be the fresher player on the day, as he rather comfortably defeated Ben Shelton on Friday, losing only four games. Those factors would seem to favor Zverev, but considering this is his first match against a top five player since the Australian Open final in January, I give the slight edge to Alcaraz, who is extremely fit and should recover rather well from his quarterfinal against Rublev. And Carlitos will be motivated to reach the final, where his biggest rival will likely be awaiting him.
Other Notable Matches on Saturday:
Nikola Mektic and Rajeev Ram vs. Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool (2) – This is only the third tournament in the partnership between Mektic and Ram, as they’ve already eliminated two seeded teams. Cash and Glasspool are just on fire this summer, with a record of 25-1 since the start of the grass court season. They are vying for their sixth consecutive final, and have won four titles in a row (Queen’s Club, Eastbourne, Wimbledon, Toronto).
Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski (5) vs. Lorenzo Musetti and Lorenzo Sonego – Salisbury and Skupski narrowly lost the final last week in Toronto, by a score of 13-11 in the deciding-set tiebreak. This is a rare doubles semifinals for the Italian Lorenzos, who of course have each found more success on the singles court.
Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini (1) vs. Hanyu Guo and Alexandra Panova – Errani and Paolini have only had to contest two matches to reach this semifinal, as they received a walkover in the round of 16. Paolini is also still alive in singles, after defeating Coco Gauff on Friday evening. Hanyu and Panova were champions two months ago on the grass of Bad Homburg.
Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.
