Jannik and Carlos will lead the draw at the seventh Masters 1000 event of the season. The Italian could face Tomas Machac or Tommy Paul in the fourth round before a possible clash against Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas or Lorenzo Musetti.

The Spaniard is seeking his first Cincinnati title after wasting a match point in that memorable 2023 final against Novak Djokovic that went down to the wire.

Alcaraz could face Jakub Mensik or Denis Shapovalov in the fourth round. His quarter-final rival should be Andrey Rublev, Alexei Popyrin or Alex de Minaur. If they present their A-game, Carlos and Jannik could meet in their fourth final since May.

Their first duel of the season came in the Rome Masters final. The home hero missed his chances in the opening set, and the Spaniard sealed the deal in straight sets for his first Foro Italico crown.

A couple of weeks later, they embraced their first Major final at Roland Garros. As was expected, Alcaraz and Sinner made it the one to remember for ages, with the younger player prevailing 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 after five hours and 29 minutes!

Sinner claimed the opening two sets and generated three match points on the return at 5-3 in the fourth. Carlos saved them, pulled the break back in game ten and prevailed in the tie break to force a decider.

The Spaniard served for the win, and the Italian made another push to extend the drama. They ended up in the deciding match tie break, and Alcaraz played flawless tennis to clinch it 10-2 and collect his fifth Major crown at 22.