As the world number one and top seed for the 2023 Cincinnati Open, Carlos Alcaraz is a man that everyone is talking about right now. It is simply undeniable at this point that this young Spaniard will be the next great thing in men’s tennis. However, while people always talk about how young Alcaraz is, if he is to become a true legend of the game – his successes must start rolling here and now.
Carlos Alcaraz Cincinnati Open
Anyway, before we get sidetracked, my goal here is to guide you through the possible route to the trophy for Carlos Alcaraz at the 2023 Cincinnati Open. Furthermore, once you have read through this look ahead for the tournament this week, I’d suggest keeping track of Alcaraz’s progress by monitoring the Cincinnati Open schedule. This way, you can stay on top of his matches, who he will be playing in the next round, and more.
So if you are ready to explore the possibilities for Alcaraz in the 2023 Cincinnati Open, let’s assess his draw right now.
Cincinnati Open draw for Carlos Alcaraz – possible matches at each stage
If you look at the list of Cincinnati Open seeds this year, Carlos Alcaraz is at the top of the tree. Then again, he is the world number one, so in every tournament he is involved with he will be the top seed. As for his position in the draw, he is at the very top, which means that he has avoided certain guys who are in the bottom half of the draw. At the same time, the top half of the draw has some very dangerous opponents in it, as you will find out while we work our way through the possible matchups below.
With this in mind, let’s now look ahead at the Cincinnati Open draw for Carlos Alcaraz from round 1 through to the finals. This shows a pretty interesting and somewhat dangerous path for the world number one, but if Alcaraz hits top form, he can definitely take the trophy.
Round 1 – Bye
Just to avoid all doubts, each of the 16 seeds at the Cincinnati Open have received a bye into the second round. Because of that, as you will see if you monitor the schedule, the top seeds will only begin their campaigns on Tuesday or Wednesday (August 15th / August 16th). This gives Alcaraz a chance to kick back and watch his potential opponent battling out in the first round.
Round 2 – Jordan Thompson
When analyzing the Cincinnati Open draw this year, it’s actually quite tough to predict who Alcaraz will play in his opening match. I say that because he awaits the winner of Jordan Thompson vs John Isner. And while yes, Jordan Thompson is the more active and younger player, Isner is always a threat due to his serve and groundstrokes. Yet with Thompson ranked 55 in the world as of the recent ATP rankings updates, we can assume that he will be Alcaraz’s first opponent.
Round 3 – Tommy Paul
Round three is the point at which it gets very interesting for Carlos Alcaraz. Now, prior to last week, I would have said that Alcaraz should have no problems when facing Tommy Paul given his form. However, Paul managed to beat Alcaraz in the quarter-finals of the Canadian Open, which shocked the tennis world. And even more worryingly for Alcaraz, Paul has a 2-1 head-to-head lead over him. But for the purposes of this draw prediction, we will assume that Alcaraz makes it into the quarters.
Quarter-finals – Casper Ruud
Casper Ruud is the 5th seed at the Cincinnati Open. Furthermore, he is no stranger to Carlos Alcaraz on a tennis court. These two have clashed on three separate occasions, yet Alcaraz has won all of them. The most recent of these matches was in the US Open final in 2022. So the fact that Ruud was in the US Open final shows that he has got serious skills on hard courts.
Semi-finals – Stefanos Tsitsipas
Of the four opponents that Carlos Alcaraz could face from round 3 to the finals, this is the one he will feel most comfortable about. I say this because Alcaraz has taken out Tsitsipas in all five of their meetings. However, they did have an epic battle at the US Open in 2021, and I’d love to see that level of tennis once again.
Finals – Novak Djokovic
Last up, it would be Novak Djokovic. This would be the 4th edition of Alcaraz vs Djokovic, and it would be the 2nd final they’d play against each other. And just to make matters all the more exciting, the outcome of this game could put the two very close in terms of their cumulative rankings points. Of course, this means that the battle for world number 1 is still firmly on.
Gavin Davison
Gavin is a full-time copywriter based in the United Kingdom. He has previously played NCAA college tennis in the USA and competed in many international events throughout his younger days. He still plays competitively and follows both the ATP & WTA Tours closely. His favourite player is Roger Federer.
