Terence Atmane delivers breakthrough in Cincinnati

Terence Atmane (Instagram)

The men’s and women’s finals in Cincinnati take place on Monday with the top two players in the world competing in the men’s final (world number one Jannik Sinner of Italy versus world number two Carlos Alcaraz of Spain) and Jasmine Paolini of Italy facing Iga Swiatek of Poland in the women’s final.

The biggest story in Cincinnati over the last 12 days was the rising progression of Terence Atmane of Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. While Canadian Victoria Mboko of Burlington, Ontario was by far and a way the biggest story of the National Bank Open earlier this summer in Montreal, what we saw from Atmane is also newsworthy.

Atmane began the Cincinnati Open ranked 136th in the world. He qualified for Cincinnati by beating Australia’s own Li Tu of Adelaide 7-5, 6-3. That was followed by a 6-2, 6-2 first round win over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.

Then the massive upsets happened. Atmane stunned reigning Wimbledon quarterfinalist and 15th seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 in the second round. That was followed by a win over 18-year-old Brazilian sensation Joao Fonseca, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round, a shocking 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over reigning United States Open finalist and fourth seed Taylor Fitz of the United States in the fourth round, and a 6-2, 6-3 won over Denmark’s Holger Rune in the quarterfinals, the seventh seed. Atmane’s Cinderella run came to an end on Saturday when he lost 7-6, 6-2 to Sinner in the semifinals.

With the semifinal appearance, Atmane will jump 67 places in the world rankings to 69th. It should be noted that when Mboko won in Montreal earlier this month, she jumped 61 spots from 85th to 24th.