The dream run is over for Terence Atmane.
A matchup with the world no. 1 turned out to be too much for Atmane, who lost to Jannik Sinner 7-6 (4), 6-2 in the semi-final of the Western & Southern Open on Saturday afternoon. Sinner insured his place in a second straight Cincinnati title match after touching six Azen without double mistakes and holds the entire way without being confronted with a single breaking point.
The Italian celebrated his 24th birthday on Saturday and none other than Atmane made sure he gave him a gift. An avid Pokemon -collector, the Frenchman gave Sinner a card while they were waiting in the tunnel to take the court.
Sinner, however, was not at the point of handing out party favors in exchange. Atmane played a fantastic first set to force a tie-scratcher, but the defending champion led the ‘Breaker from start to finish-chief with a double errors from Atmane at the opening point. Two breaks in the second set were more than enough for Sinner.
“It was a very, very tough challenge,” assured top seeds. “Every time you play against [someone] Completely new, it is difficult, but playing against this man in the later stages of a tournament is even more difficult. The pressure is higher and you know that they deserve to be there … He defeated incredible players during his victories.
“I knew that I had to be very careful and my way of thinking was in a good place. I felt that I treated the situations on the field very well. He served incredibly well in the first set. He has a huge potential, and I think we saw that in the tournament.”
Sinner is waiting for Carlos Alcaraz or Alexander Zverev in the championship match on Monday.
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