Terence Atmane has enjoyed his career-best tennis in the previous weeks. The Frenchman embraced a deep run at the Cincinnati Masters before falling to Jannik Sinner, his Pokemon friend.
The two rivals met again in the second round at the ATP 500 event in Beijing, and the lower-ranked player pushed world no. 2 to the limits in the opening two sets. In the end, Jannik prevailed 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 in two hours and 21 minutes.
Learning a lot from every match against such a strong opponent, Terence shared a classy message with Jannik, thanking him for showing him the path to the peak level of our sport.
Like in Cincinnati, Atmane played at a high level in Beijing in certain parts of the match and proved his class. He stole a late break in the second set to force a decider before experiencing a bagel due to physical issues.
Jannik struggled a bit behind the initial shot in the opening two sets. He lost 39% of the points in his games and suffered three breaks from nine chances presented to his opponent.
Terence gave away half of the points in his games and lost serve six times from 11 chances presented to world no. 2. Sinner landed more unforced errors than winners. However, the Frenchman helped him after spraying nearly 40 mistakes.
The 2023 champion made a strong start and clinched a break in the third game of the duel. He saved a break point in the next one and created two set points on the return at 5-3.
The Frenchman saved them and extended the set before generating three break chances at 4-5. Jannik kept his focus, denying them and bringing the set home for 6-4.
We saw four straight breaks at love in set number two. Terence stepped in on the return at 6-5 and clinched a break to force a decider and remain in contention for his career-best victory.
However, he struggled physically in the decisive part of the duel, experiencing a bagel and propelling Sinner through.
"I gave everything I had today but it wasnt enough. Congratulations Jannikfor todays performance and thank you for showing me the path to the peak level of our sport. Thank you everyone for the support and see you all next year," Terence Atmane said.
