No sponsor of clothing, no sponsor shoes, no agent, but lots of faith. French qualifier Terence Atmane turned the chance to Cincinnati Masters and marched to the semifinals with a fearless tennis brand that saw him to overthrow some of the biggest names of the game.
The 23-year-old left-handed, at the beginning of the week placed 136 in the world, amazed world No. 9 Holger Rune 6-2, 6-3 in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Strong one -hour, 13 -minute victory followed by his earlier disturbance of world No. 4 Taylor Fritz and made him the first qualifier to achieve the Masters Cincinnati, the last four since 2015, and the first Frenchman to do so since Richard Gasquet in 2019.
Atmane’s journey began in qualifying rounds where he fought two matches to earn the main berth. Against Rune, he created a championship class attacking tennis, hammered 14 forehand winners, easily moved through the baseline and dictated the assembly with confidence. It was a sharp turn from the 2025 season, which brought only one victory at the tour level before this week.
He is now ready for the semi -final of the collision with the world No. 1 and the defending champion Jannika Sinner. Regardless of the result that the atman’s evaluation will increase 67 seats on No. 69 in the ranking of men’s singles – a new career.
Atmane’s winning money per week is already worth $ 332,160, an eclipse of 310 376 USD, which earned the whole season before Cincinnati.
“I don’t think any words can describe how I feel now,” Atmane said after the match.
“It’s pretty crazy to be honest. I can’t believe it. Being here in the Masters 1000 semifinals, burglary to the TOP 100 and even more with victory tonight – it’s also a lot of money for me, so it will be very useful for my career.
For Atman, this week is also a personal justification. In September 2024, he lost sponsorship an agreement with Asics suddenly after appearing in Shanghai’s court on his opponent Nike Trainers. The division came despite the breakthrough season in which it reached the third round of the Italian masters and broke the TOP 120. Since then, it has navigated a tour without a clothing or shoe sponsor and relied on its own resources to compete.
Sinner emulates the Big Four
Meanwhile, Sinner decimated Felix Augera-aliassime 6-0, 6-2 in the quarterfinals to book his place in the last four in Cincinatti. At three meetings it was the first victory No. 1 over Canadian.
With his triumph, Sinner expanded his winning lane in harsh courts to 25 matches. In this century, Sinner became the fifth man who, after four, recorded 25 consecutive victories in the hard judges – Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal Andy Murray.
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Published:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
August 15, 2025
