Qualifier Terence Atmane upsets second top-10 foe to advance to Cincinnati Open semis
Terence Atmane, the 23-year old from France and new Cincinnati Reds fan, continued his remarkable run Aug. 14 at the Cincinnati Open.
Atmane, ranked No. 136 in the world going into the men’s tournament, upset his second top-10 opponent in as many nights. He defeated No. 7 seed Holger Rune, 6-2, 6-3 on Aug. 13.
Atmane advances to the semifinals, where he will play defending champion and No. 1 in the world, Jannik Sinner, on Aug. 16.
He was coming off a win over No. 4 seed Taylor Fritz in the previous round. Atmane has won over a lot of fans in Mason by wearing Cincinnati Reds gear after matches. He wore a Reds cap after his victory over Hune.
“I don’t think any words can describe how I feel right now,” he said in an oncourt interview on the Tennis Channel broadcast. “I mean, it’s pretty insane, to be honest, I cannot believe it. Being in the semis of a Masters 1000, breaking into the top hundred and even more with the win tonight. It’s also a lot of money for me, so it’s going to be very helpful for my career, so it means a lot to me, to be honest, I’m very emotional about it.”
Atmane dominated the first set, then rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to win set two. Atmane, a left-hander, used a powerful serve that often went over 140 mph, and kept Rune off balance with his groundstrokes.
Atmane has won two Challenger tournaments, in China and South Korea this season, but this is by far his biggest performance in a main ATP event.
He had to regroup after beating Fritz.
“I couldn’t really sleep last night with the win with Taylor,” Atmane said. “I was just trying to be myself on court, trying to enjoy it as much as I can, because I had nothing to lose. That’s the advantage that I have of being the underdog here. The atmosphere is absolutely unreal, the court suits me very well. And I think that this is going to give me a lot of confidence for the rest of the year and for my career in general.”
Atmane had only won five tour-level matches before arriving in Mason, Ohio. He is projected to rise to No. 93 in the next ATP rankings. He was in the 180s in March.
He would no longer have to play the Challenger events, according to the Tennis Channel. He could also earn exemptions into all of next year’s Grand Slam tournaments.
Atmane, 23, has toppled Italian world No. 22 Flavio Cobolli and Brazilian ATP No. 52 Joao Fonseca after making it out of qualifiers en route to his best-ever ATP Masters 1,000 run.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Qualifier Terence Atmane upsets second top-10 foe to advance to semis
