Cincinnati Open from this year has yielded a number of interesting and unexpected results during a series of dramatic incidents and on Wednesday, after an extensive rain break, the French qualification Terence Atmane still produced an upset by eliminating the home favorite and world no. 4 Taylor Fritz, 3-6 7-5 6-3.
I have a bit of trouble closing it, but this can happen in this sport and I am very happy that I am in the next round. ” Jannik Sinner
The 23-year-old Van Boulogne-sur-Mer, ranked on 136, is the first qualification that continued to the last eight during a Masters 1000 event in two years and the lowest ranked Cincinnati quarterfinalist at the tournament since the then no-world No.152 wona Coric Borna Coric Borna Coric.
The Frenchman arrived in Cincinnati after he won one five performances on the Tour, to qualify without dropping a set and then going through the main table with victories over Yoshihito Nishioka, Flavio Cobolli, Joao Fonseca, and now Fritz.
“What a week. What a week I have to say,” exclaimed Atmane, who improves his ranking to a career-high 93 after his 59-minute one-hour victory.
“I am so happy that my work is finally bearing fruit. But as I said with my coach, this is just a tournament and I have to repeat this kind of level every week to be in place.”
He described the moment of victory and said: “I couldn’t believe it was fair. I saw that I hit the volley with the frame. I thought: ‘No! ‘I was about to go back to 40-30 and I had to serve again.
“But then the ball came in one way or another and I saw him, he was completely on the backhand side and he ran in the forehand and I had something like:” please don’t touch it, come on. Please give me please, please. “
“I saw that it was a double stroking and game, set and match. I just can’t describe this feeling anymore, but I’m super happy, so happy.”
In their only earlier meeting, Fritz beat him in two tie-break sets.
Rain hiring the game between 2:55 local time and resumed around 5.30 am, but before the break Holger Rune claimed his quarterfinals when Frances Tiafoe was forced to retire after 72 minutes, through a back injury. De Dane, 7, led the American, sowed 10 and finalist last year, 6-4 3-1.
“From 4-4, when I got the break and at 5-4 when he had the medical time-out, then I felt that something was wrong and then I could see that he was struggling a bit,” Rune said. “As the game is, I tried to move it as much as possible. It is never fun to finish a match like this and I wish him the best recovery.”
Jannik Sinner makes the balance of the situation
(Photo by Frey/TPN/Getty images)
One of the matches affected by the two-hour rain-drift of 45 minutes was the Jannik Sinner Fourth Round collision with another French qualification Adrian Mannarino.
The match was resumed with Sinner who led 6-4 1-2 and although the Italian world no. 1 and title defender was not at its best, he was well able to deal with his opponents who attacked the game to promote 6-4 7-6 (4) after an hour 48 minutes of the actual game that was not elaborated on 6-5.
“He is a very tough opponent. Very different from other opponents, not only because he is a lifty, but how he touches the ball. It’s very low,” Sinner said. “I just tried to serve well and tried to see what I could do in the return games.
“He served very well, especially on the advertising, was very precise on the wide. I changed the position and tried to make him feel uncomfortable. I have a little trouble closing it, but this can happen in this sport and I am very happy to be in the next round.”
Sinner now leads Mannarino 4-0 in the personal series of the couple and will then meet the 23rd Seed Felix Auger AsiaSsime who defeated the Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi 6-4 6-3 in what the 23-year-old Italian last quarter of the year will be.
Sinner has extended his winning series on hard courts to 24 games, and surpassed Novak Djokovic’s 2015 run of 23 victories to climb in eighth place on the list of the longest hard-chapt winning stripes of this century.
Carlos Alcaraz had a comfortable match
(Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty images)
The last defeat of the Italian came to the surface against his most important rival Carlos Alcaraz, in the final of Beijing, last October and the name of the Spaniard is closer to the draw, because he also successfully reached the quarterfinals with a comfortable 6-1 6-4 victory over Italian lucky loser Luca Nardi.
The world no. 2 won 13 of the first 14 points of the game and closed the first set in just 27 minutes, but Nardi hit back in the second to only lead 4-2 for Alcaraz to go on an acceleration and run away four consecutive games to conquer the game after 80 minutes, after 80 minutes, helped by two consecutive double errors.
“I think this game was the best for me in this tournament so far,” said Alcaraz in his interview on the field.
“At the start of the tournament, I just really wanted to get better every day, after every exercise and every game. I think I do it, which I am really proud of. I am just very happy with the way I felt the ball today and the way I moved.”
The Spaniard, which is attracted to meet his most important rival sinner in the final for the fourth consecutive tournament in which they both characterized, then plays ninth seed Andrey Rublev, who beats Francisco Comesana 6-2 6-3 to reach the last eight.
Third seed Alexander Zverev led the 14th seed Karen Khahanov 7-5, 3-0 when the finalist of Toronto retired after 70 minutes. The Russian beat the German in Toronto last week, where he saved a match point to escape from the defeat. Zverev, who won the Cincy title in 2021, is waiting for Toronto Champion and Fifth Seed Ben Shelton or 22nd Seed Jirin Lehecka who will still play their fourth round game.
The Shelton match with Robert Bautista Agut was suspended on Tuesday and was played as again planned with the American ruling 7-6 (3) 6-3.
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