Alexander Zverev has more than proved that he is the second-best player in men’s tennis following Carlos Alcaraz’s five-month hiatus from the sport.

In Alcaraz’s absence, Zverev has won his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros and reached the final of Wimbledon for the first time in his career.

However, he has still not managed to find a way past his Jannik Sinner problem.

Zverev lost the Wimbledon final to Sinner, which was his 10th straight defeat to the Italian, dating back to the Cincinnati Open in 2024.

The German has managed to usurp the world No 1 in one key statistic over the ATP Tour season in 2026, though, thanks to his performances in Cincinnati.

With his victories against Cameron Norrie and Terence Atmane at the Masters tournament, Zverev has not won more matches in 2026 than any other player.

ATP Tour match victories in 2026

- Alexander Zverev – 46

- Jannik Sinner – 44

- Rafael Jodar – 36

- Tommy Paul – 34

- Ben Shelton -33

He sits above Sinner, who has managed an incredible 44 victories in nine tournaments this year, as well as Rafael Jodar, Tommy Paul, and Ben Shelton.

It is, of course, worth noting that Zverev has played many more matches across the year than Sinner.

Zverev has played 58 matches on the ATP Tour season, while Sinner has played 47, so the German has had more chances to pick up his victories.

Nevertheless, Zverev now stands at a winning rate of 75% in 2026, which is more than deserving of his world No 2 spot on the ATP Tour.

With 17 seeded players already out of the Cincinnati Open too, he is the overwhelming favourite to win his first Masters title of the season.

More Alexander Zverev news

Four of Zverev’s Masters defeats have come against Sinner this season, at Indian Wells, the Miami Open, the Madrid Open, and the Monte Carlo Masters, so he will be confident of a deep run in Cincinnati without the world No 1 playing.

However, he will next play Tommy Paul for a place in the quarter finals of the competition and he currently holds a negative head-to-head record against the American.

The star has lost two of his three matches against the big serving American, at the Mexican Open in 2020 and Indian Wells in 2022.

His sole victory against Paul came at the Australian Open in 2025, when he won the match in four sets en route to reaching the final at the Grand Slam.

They will play their fourth round match-up on Wednesday, 19th August, with the order of play yet to be confirmed by the Cincinnati Open.