Tommy Paul Sets Cincy Showdown With Alcaraz

Tommy Paul has booked a showdown with World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz for the second consecutive week after defeating Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-1, 7-6(4) to reach the third round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

Paul leads the Spaniard 2-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series and knocked out the 20-year-old last week in the Toronto quarter-finals.

Paul, who claimed four breaks of serve against Humbert, is at a career-high No. 13 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and could break into the Top 10 for the first time with a deep run in Ohio.

[ATP APP]

Taylor Fritz claimed his 30th hard-court match win of the season when he defeated Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 7-6(1) after winning 10 of 14 net approaches.

The recent Atlanta champion improved to 10-2 on the North American hard-court swing and next faces Serbian Dusan Lajovic, who took advantage of 35 unforced errors from Jannik Sinner to defeat the Italian 6-4, 7-6(4).

Fritz is ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race to Turin, hopeful of returning to the Nitto ATP Finals for the second consecutive year.