2024 Cincinnati Masters Day 4: Alcaraz v Monfils, Gauff, Sabalenka

Yesterday at the Cincinnati Masters the tournament saw the top seeds Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek pushed while Daniil Medvedev and Emma Navarro both lost.

Also falling was Alexei Popyrin who failed to win a match in Cincinnati after his big Canadian Open title. Popyrin was to to play Carlos Alcaraz tonight, but instead it will be his victor Gael Monfils who beat the Australian in straights to set up the meeting with Alcaraz who will make his summer hard court debut.

The silver medalist made the finals last year in Cincinnati and is favored this week to win it for a first time.

“I always want to be better. I always think that I could do it better. Obviously, I had a great summer: Roland Garros, Wimbledon, silver in the Olympics. Obviously, I wanted the gold medal,” Alcaraz said to the ATP this weekend. “After the matches, if I win or I lose, I like to find the bad things that I did in the matches, try to be better, try to in the next match not make the same mistakes in the shots or dealing with some situations. And that’s what happened.

“That’s what I saw in the final in Paris, that I couldn’t deal with the situations as good as I wanted, and that’s what I was thinking after the match, just to be better, and probably being harder on myself.”

Alexander Zverev faces Karen Khachanov and also in action are Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev, Ben Shelton and Stefanos Tsitsipas who takes on Jack Draper.

In the women’s draw, Coco Gauff opens her title defense against the dangerous Yulia Putintseva. Gauff is looking having title points to defend here and then in New York.

“I’m really excited to be back here in Cincinnati. I have a lot of great memories and great crowd support here,” Gauff told the tournament. “When you come back to a place where you’ve had success, you kind of feel like you’re finding yourself again. But I try not to look in the past. I want to continue to move forward.

“One thing I’ve learned is that I’ve had a lot of success so far in my career. I always put the pressure on myself to do more, but sometimes it’s just good to say you did well. I think I’m trying to take a step back and just enjoy what I’ve done so far and use that experience to push me forward.”

Toronto winner Jessica Pegula, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina are also on court.