French qualifier Térence Atmane continued his spectacular run at the Cincinnati Masters on Friday with a straights sets dismissal of the seventh seed Holger Rune. The 23-year-old, who had to play three matches in the qualifying tournament to reach the 96-man main draw, won 6-2, 6-3.
He will take on the top seed Jannik Sinner on Saturday after the Italian breezed through his quarter-final against Félix Auger-Aliassime 6-0, 6-2.
"I don't have the words to describe what's happened to me," said Atmane whose surge to the last four will propel him nearly 70 places up the ATP world rankings to 70th and guarantee him prize money of €300,000.
"It is going to help me a lot with my career. It's very important," added Atmane.
After coming through the qualifiers, Atmane beat the world number 22 Flavio Cobolli and the rising star Joao Fonseca.
He shocked the local hero Taylor Fritz in the last-16 and proved the victory over the fourth seed was no fluke with a convincing victory over Rune.
"I didn't sleep well on Wednesday night after my win over Taylor," said Atmane.
"In the match against Holger, I tried to be myself on the court, I've got nothing to lose, that's my strength.
"The courts in Cincinnati seem to suit me very well," he added. "And that's going to give me a lot of confidence for the rest of the year and the rest of my career in general.
Atmane is the first Frenchman to reach the Cincinnati men's semi-finals since Richard Gasquet in 2019.
In the women's draw, France's Varvara Gracheva advanced to the quarter-final of the tournament.
The 25-year-old beat Ella Seidel from Germany 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals for the first time at one of the most prestigious tournaments on the circuit after the four Grand Slam events in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.
