Terence Atmane has seen his breakthrough run at the Cincinnati Open come to an end at the hands of Jannik Sinner.
Atmane, who was ranked at world number 136 before the Cincinnati Open, had only ever won four main draw Masters 1000 matches in his career before this week.
However, after coming through qualifying, Atmane has beaten Holger Rune, Taylor Fritz, Joao Fonseca and Flavio Cobolli to reach the semifinals in Cincinnati.
That was where he played the world number one, with Sinner proving to be just too much for Atmane in the end.
Terence Atmane posts social media message after loss to Jannik Sinner
Despite losing out in his semifinal against the world number one, there is much to be celebrated for Atmane after his run in Cincinnati.
Atmane had already made a big claim about Sinner, and he has since followed it up with another following their match.
On an Instagram story, Atmane compared Sinner to an alien after he was beaten, 7-6(4) 6-2.
The 23-year-old wrote, “I gave my all today but it wasn’t enough against a true (alien emoji).”
After having some time to reflect on his time at the Cincinnati Open, a few hours later Atmane wrote a more in-depth social media post about his run.
Atmane has described it as ‘the most beautiful week’ of his life, and suggested that this has motivated him to keep going.
“The most beautiful week of my life!!” exclaimed Atmane. “Thank you everyone for the incredible support I’ve received from the first to the last point of this tournament. You guys were AWESOME.
“Now it’s time for me to keep working hard day after day if I wanna become one day a top player. Nothing is impossible and this week will definitely change my life forever. Thank you Cincinnati, see you next year!”
What will happen to Terence Atmane’s ranking after the Cincinnati Open?
Atmane appears to have gained a lot of confidence in his tennis after his run to the Cincinnati Open semifinals, and it has also been a big boost for his ranking.
Not only is he confirmed to make his top 100 debut, but Atmane will now rise over 60 places to move into the top 70 of the ATP rankings.
This means that Atmane is now likely to be able to gain direct entry into the main draws of Grand Slams, but that will not be the case for the US Open.
As the cut-off for the US Open main draw was weeks before Atmane’s breakthrough in Cincinnati, he will still have to play qualifying for the New York major.
Atmane will play qualifying at the US Open in just a couple of days’ time, as he looks to continue his momentum on from Cincinnati.
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