World no. 136 Terence Atmane is enjoying his career-best run at the Cincinnati Masters. The 23-year-old Frenchman came to Ohio with five ATP wins under his belt. He qualified for the main draw, entering his fifth Masters 1000 event.
Terence provided his A-game on the fast hard court, toppling five rivals and notching his first Masters 1000 semi-final. Atmanedefeated Flavio Cobolli, Joao Fonseca and Taylor Fritz en route to the semi-final.
Victory over the American was Terence's first against the top-20 rival, but he did not stop there. The 23-year-old ousted the 7th seed Holger Rune 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and 17 minutes for a place in the last four.
The reward? The clash against world no. 1, Jannik Sinner! Terence outplayed his junior rival Holger in every department. The less experienced player made a difference with the first serve, while they both struggled behind the second.
The Frenchman lost serve once from two chances presented to his rival. The Dane stood far from those numbers. World no. 9 gave away 47% of the points in his games and lost serve four times from 11 chances presented to his rival.
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Atmane tamed his strokes nicely and laded 22 winners and 18 unforced errors. He had the upper hand in service winners and from the baseline, earning his triumph in the shortest and mid-range exchanges.
Holger experienced issues in the fourth game of the duel. He squandered four game points and played a wild forehand on the fifth break point, experiencing a break after 13 minutes.
Terence cemented it with two fine holds in games five and seven for a 5-2 advantage. Rune played another poor service game in game eight and sprayed a forehand error on a set point, allowing his rival to clinch the set 6-2 in 36 minutes.
The favorite made his only push on the return at the beginning of the second set and provided a break after Atmane's wild forehand. World no. 9 held at love in game two with a service winner to increase the lead.
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However, a left-hander pulled the break back in game four after a loose backhand from the other side. A qualifier closed the fifth game after a deuce and secured another hold at 3-3.
The Frenchman stepped in on the return in game eight and generated three break points after the Dane's volley mistake. Terence attacked on the third and converted it with a forehand winner at the net for a 5-3 advantage.
Atmane served for the win in game nine and seized a match point with a forehand winner, earning another notable win and arranging the semi-final clash with Jannik Sinner.
