 Carlos Alcarez vs. Hubert Hercatch is the first semi-final for the men's Cincinnati Open for 2023. And both guys have had to fight to get to this stage. Hercatch into the tournament, unseeded, and will take on the qualified Cockenarkas in the first round. And after battling into a third set, Hercatch would sneak through 7-6-3-6-7-6. In the second round, he'd take on the 15th seed and defending champion, Borna Čoric. And after dropping the first set, would fight back to win in 3-5-7-6-3-6-3. In the third round, he'd take on the fourth seed, Siddi Paz, who struggled last week in Canada. And this was by far Hercatch's best performance getting through in straights, 6-3-6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, Hercatch would take on the lucky loser Poprin, who'd gotten a second chance thanks to Hashinah pulling out. And after an easy first set, Hercatch would fight back to win the second, 6-1-7-6, to advance to the semi-finals. Alcarez came into the tournament as a number one seed and would get a buy in the first round. In the second round, he'd take on the qualified Thompson. After dropping the second set, would fight to win in 3-7-5-4-6-6-3. In the third round, he'd take on the number 14 seed, Tommy Paul, the man who had beaten him last week in Canada. And after splitting the first two sets and a lot of rain delays, Alcarez would eventually prevail 7-6-6-7-6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, Alcarez would take on the qualifier Purcell, who had just taken out Rude and Vavrinca back to back. And after dropping the first set, Alcarez again would have to fight back to win in 3-4-6-6-3-6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals. These two guys were played twice before with their previous meeting being last week. In the third round of Canada, Alcarez getting the 3-set win there with a couple of tie breaks going his way. But Hercatch has been impressive in tie breaks this week. So if it does go that way, maybe Hercatch can finally sneak out a win. If Hercatch is going to win this one, he needs to serve big. His serve has been so good this entire year. He served more aces than anybody else for the entire season. In fact, 150 more aces than the next best guy, which is Fritz. And he also has a massive first serve percentage as well. Doesn't lose points when that first serve goes in, but it comes out of the tie breaks. How does his mentality go when he does play the tie breaks if he does play the tie breaks against Alcarez? If Alcarez is going to win this one, he needs to get off to a better start. He seems to get off to these slow starts. Since Wimbledon has been winning, even at Wimbledon in the first final. In the final there, he did lose the first set 6-1. So he needs to get off to a better start here. And of course last week he did lose the first set against Hercatch. And the tie breaks, if Hercatch can somehow get his way into those, it could be difficult for Alcarez to get that first set. This is such a fun matchup because in the last five sets they've played, four tie breaks. So we're going to get at least one tie break you'd expect. But I reckon Alcarez gets it again. I think Hercatch just isn't quite there when he gets the tie breaks. And of course hasn't won a tie break against Alcarez. And that's going to play on his mind. For some reason, with a big serve like that, he still can't get the tie breaks. But I reckon that Alcarez is going to sneak it out, maybe in three sets. But let me know down in the comments below who's going to make the final of Cincinnati.