Overview

• Carlos Alcaraz swept past Italy’s Mattia Bellucci 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 to set up a third-round meeting with No. 32 seed Luciano Darderi.
• The 2022 champion has yet to be broken through two matches and leads the 2025 tour with 56 wins and six titles, according to the ATP.
• Top seed Jannik Sinner began with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 win over Vit Kopriva after illness in Cincinnati, keeping a possible final clash with Alcaraz in play.
• The No. 1 scenario is straightforward: Alcaraz finishes the tournament on top if he matches or outperforms Sinner, after entering with a live gap of roughly 60 points.
• Their duopoly endures—seven straight majors between them and a 9-5 edge to Alcaraz—and their schedules diverge next month (Alcaraz to the Japan Open, Sinner to the China Open) before Shanghai, Paris and the ATP Finals.