CINCINNATI.- The Italian Jannik SinnerMale tennis number one, ended this Saturday with the French dream route Térence Atman And it was classified for the final of Cincinnati Masters, where another electric duel could star Carlos Alcaraz.
Sinner celebrated his 24th birthday with a fought triumph against Atmane, 136 of the ATPin the first semifinal of this 1000 Masters by 7-6 (7/4) and 6-2.
On Monday, the Italian will seek his second crown followed by this tournament in front of the winner of the other semifinal, which then played the Spanish Alcaraz and the German Alexander Zverev, second and third planted.
Under a powerful sun, Sinner needed all his cold blood in front of the poisoned challenge that Atrena raised, the revelation of a tournament in which he played the classification phase and took two members of the Top-10, Taylor Fritz and Holger Rune from the road.
“It is a very hard challenge every time you play with someone completely new. And playing with these guys in the final rounds is even more difficult, the pressure is higher,” said Wimbledon’s recent champion.
“He deserved to be here, won incredible players until he reached the semifinals, I had to be very careful,” he added about his rival, the eighth tennis player with the least ranking to reach the semifinals of a 1000 Masters.
Birthday gift
Atmane began to surprise Sinner from his encounter in the access tunnel to the track, where he handed him a Pokémon letter as a birthday gift, which the Italian received with a smile and a hug.
Collector of these pieces since he was five years old, the Frenchman was less friendly to the world number one in a first high quality set, in which none gave up a single break and that Sinner had to pocket on the ‘Tie-Break’.
The second manga was less stressful for the Italian after he achieved his first ‘break’ of the game in the fourth game.
With this dose of reality, Atmane said goodbye to the tournament in which the world of tennis was made known.
The 23-year-old Frenchman had barely won five games in the circuit, but his explosion in Cincinnati will allow him to enter the Top-100 for the first time, climbing to the 69th place.
Sinner, on his side, chained his twenty -first consecutive victory in matches played on fast tracks, reaching a total of 200 in his career, and still does not get off the final in his last six tournaments played on this surface.
Nerve test
Winner this year of two crowns of Grand Slam, open from Australia and Wimbledon, Sinner now has the opportunity to release his masters 1000 showcase in a season in which he spent three months suspended for his double positive in anti -doping controls in 2024.
This year the only player who has managed to stop him in the great stages is Alcaraz, who won the 1000 Masters of Rome and Roland Garros, while Sinner won the last match between them, in July in the Wimbledon final.
The expectations were high for a possible new battle between both stars in the prelude to the United States Open, the last Grand Slam event, which will start on August 24 in New York.
Sinner fulfilled his part in the dangerous duel against Atrena. Playing with absolute freedom, as if it were accustomed to this heights, the Frenchman had great percentages to the service and threatened the head of the circuit with the powerful right blow with which he made his way this week.
The hermetic Sinner showed his first gestures of frustration, with some looks at his bank, when Atrena 6-5 progress was made and forced to win the manga in the tiebreaker.
But the Italian, with his nerves of steel, knew how to control the pressure that grieves the other victims of the French stranger, from the Brazilian promise Joao Fonseca to Fritz and Rune, fourth and ninth of the ATP.
At the start of the ‘Tie-Break’ the Frenchman gave him air with a double foul and Sinner kept control until the end based on forcing mistakes of his inexperienced rival.
In the second set, Atmana was losing level and energies until he gave his service for the first time and allowing Sinner to take an already definitive advantage of 4-1.
