French qualifier Terence Atmane toppled another top-10 player in Holger Rune on Thursday to line up a semi-final showdown with world No. 1 Jannik Sinner at the Cincinnati Open.
Atmane followed up his victory over fourth-ranked Taylor Fritz with a 6-2, 6-3 win over ninth-ranked Rune.
The 23-year-old would now face the ultimate test against defending champion Sinner, who said he “felt great” as he thrashed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-0, 6-2.
Photo: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images
“I don’t think any words can describe how I feel right now,” the 136th-ranked Atmane said after blasting 22 winners past Rune, 14 of them off his powerful lefty forehand.
“It’s pretty insane to be honest,” added Atmane, who would move inside the top 100 in the rankings for the first time.
“I cannot believe it. Being here in the semi-finals of a Masters 1000, breaking into the top 100. It means a lot to me,” he said.
He would face a formidable challenge in Wimbledon champion Sinner, who powered through a rapid-fire opening set and bounced back quickly after dropping serve to open the second.
Sinner prevailed in a brief 71 minutes as he claimed an eighth victory in a row at this event and his 30th match win this season.
“I felt great on the court today, you could see that,” said the Italian, who turns 24 today. “But every day can be different. Let’s see what I can do in the semis.”
Sinner took advantage of Auger-Aliassime’s serving troubles to take the first set in less than 30 minutes, the Canadian delivering three double-faults in the final game.
After going down a quick break in the second, Sinner broke back to level at 2-2 and advanced as Auger-Aliassime coughed up his eighth double-fault on match point.
“I served well today, that was the key for me,” Sinner said. “I had a small drop in the second set and I’m happy that I broke back. He moves and serves well, he’s difficult to play.”
In the day’s only other men’s match, fifth-seeded Ben Shelton — coming off a title in Toronto — posted a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jiri Lehecka to book a quarter-final clash with third-seeded Alexander Zverev.
French Open champion Coco Gauff, the women’s second seed, booked her quarter-final berth with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Lucia Bronzetti.
“I could have maybe made some more first serves in that second set, but overall I had a lot of aces and unreturnables,” said Gauff, the 2023 Cincinnati champion who went on to win the US Open title that year.
“I’m happy considering where [my serve] was last week,” she said.
The American next takes on seventh seed Jasmine Paolini, who crushed last year’s Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova 6-1, 6-2.
Krejcikova had treatment on her left foot in the second set and her movement was clearly hampered.
“She’s a great player and can do anything she wants with the ball,” said Paolini, a finalist at Roland Garros and Wimbledon last year. “But I don’t think she was at 100 percent today.”
France’s Varvara Gracheva rallied to beat Germany’s Ella Seidel 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 in an error-strewn battle of qualifiers.
“I made her play her best game,” Gracheva said. “She was so hot at the end of the first set that I could barely see a ball.”
“I had to go back to basics, I had so many mistakes. I was doubting myself but I stuck with it,” she added.
She was last night after press time to face Veronika Kudermetova, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Poland’s Magda Linette.
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NEXT ROUND: World No. 1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka opened their title defenses with straight-sets wins, while Iga Swiatek and Taylor Fritz also advanced Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka got their title defenses off to smooth starts as they powered into the third round of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Saturday. The men’s and women’s top seeds, each ranked No. 1 in the world, were both competing for the first time since Wimbledon, where Sinner lifted the title and Sabalenka bowed out in the women’s semi-finals. Sinner crushed Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan 6-1, 6-1 in steamy afternoon weather, while Sabalenka beat 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-1 under the lights of the night session. Sabalenka needed 54 minutes and a service break in the final game
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