Terence Atmane’s dream run at the Cincinnati Open was finally brought to an end by Jannik Sinner, who won their semifinal clash 7-6(7-4), 6-2.
Atmane messaged Sinner after losing to the world number one, who now meets Carlos Alcaraz for the Cincinnati Open title.
Semifinalist Atmane started the ATP Masters 1000 event in qualifying, before progressing to the latter stages after knocking out the likes of 15th seed Flavio Cobolli and Joao Fonseca.
The world number 136 then defeated fourth seed Taylor Fritz in the round of 16 before a quarterfinal victory over seventh seed Holger Rune.
Sinner changed his serve versus Atmane as he knocked him out of the tournament, which has arrived in the calendar just before the US Open.
Who the US Open handed a wildcard to instead of Terence Atmane
The Italian will be seeded for the fourth and final Grand Slam of the season, but Atmane finds himself in a different position entirely.
Receiving the reciprocal French Open wildcard instead was Valentin Royer, who currently sits 104th in the world rankings.
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Also a qualifier in Cincinnati, the 24-year-old won his opener against Sebastian Ofner before falling to Karen Khachanov.
He has since moved on to the Winston-Salem Open after his Cincinnati exit as he looks to fine-tune his game for the US Open, having also played at the Canadian Open.
Who is ATP number 104 Valentin Royer as he prepares for the US Open?
Royer, who has two wins on the Challenger Tour in 2025, will be playing in the main draw for the very first time.
The Frenchman has yet to win on the ATP Tour, but his world ranking of 104 represents a career high for the 6’2″ right-hander.
Royer already has Grand Slam experience, losing his first round match against Daniel Elahi Galan at this year’s French Open.
At Wimbledon, however, he reached the second round as a qualifier after Stefanos Tsitsipas retired hurt during their clash.
Royer was leading the Greek 6-3, 6-2 at the time, but couldn’t take that momentum into round two as he lost to fellow Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
He will be eager to build on that at this year’s US Open, where he has received a wildcard based on a reciprocal agreement.
The agreement, between the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and the French Tennis Federation (FFT), sees wildcards exchanged between the US Open and Roland Garros.
After missing out on such a position, Atmane has been drawn to face Jan Choinski in the first round of qualifying.
Choinski is currently in 151st place in the ATP Tour rankings, and is the British number six behind Jack Draper, Cameron Norrie, Jacob Fearnley, Dan Evans and Billy Harris.
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