"It was a really tough situation for me," Alcaraz reacts to his win against Zverev in Cincinnati

Carlos Alcaraz secured his spot in the Cincinnati Masters 1000 final late Saturday night into Sunday. However, the Spaniard didn’t have to push himself too hard during his semifinal against Alexander Zverev.

Indeed, the world No. 2 took advantage of his opponent’s physical struggles in the second set to pull ahead decisively against the German, who could barely move by the end of the match.

The player who reached his seventh consecutive ATP Tour final reacted to his victory, though he was also aware that Zverev was far from his best level in the second set.

"It’s never easy to play against someone who isn’t feeling 100%. And it’s even harder when it’s Sascha (Zverev), who is a great person off the court—we have a really good relationship. It was tough.

I think we both started off playing good tennis, but suddenly he began feeling unwell, and I started overthinking his condition rather than focusing on my own game.

It was a really difficult situation for me, and I wish him all the best," commented the Spaniard, who leveled their head-to-head record at 6-6 against the world No. 3 before looking ahead to the final against Sinner.

"I’m just really excited to face him again. Because of him, I play my best tennis. For the fans, it’s great to have a matchup like this, to see us compete against each other.

We both raise our level to the top, and we play some really high-quality tennis. I’m ready for this challenge. I can’t wait to analyze what I didn’t do well in the Wimbledon final, and I’ll try to be better on Monday.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is a rest day. I’ll try to fine-tune my game to be at 100%. Mentally and tactically, I’ll need to be perfect," he concluded for *The Tennis Letter*.