Tennis. After a new feat against Rune, the Frenchman Atmane will challenge Sinner in the semi-final in Cincinnati

The Frenchman Térence Atmane, levitating, continued his improbable run at the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati by largely dominating the Dane Holger Rune (22 years old, N.9) 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday, enough to offer himself a prestigious semi-final on Saturday against the world N.1 Jannik Sinner .

American sport knew "Ant-man", the nickname of the bouncy NBA forward Anthony Edwards, this week in Ohio it discovered "Atmane", another type of superhero, who crushes his opponents with his overpowering left-handed topspin forehand, like Rafael Nadal .

The 23-year-old Frenchman had the tournament of his life in Cincinnati, which would definitively place him in the ranks of very high-level players, a regular on the secondary circuit. Only ^136th in the world before the competition, Atmane would leap up the rankings, to around ^70th place at the very least.

"I don't have the words to describe what's happening to me. It's crazy. It's also a lot of money ($332,160 at least), it's going to help me a lot in my career. It's very important, I'm moved," he said, in English, into the organizers' microphone.

Coming from the qualifiers, Atmane has already won seven matches in Ohio, notably beating a sure bet (Flavio Cobolli, ^22nd ), a great hope (Joao Fonseca, ^52nd ) and therefore two members of the Top 10 in two days (Taylor Fritz, ^4th , Wednesday), he who had never beaten a Top 20 player until now.

"I didn't sleep well last night (Wednesday) after my win against Taylor. I tried to be myself on the court, I have nothing to lose, that's my strength. The courts suit me very well, it will give me a lot of confidence for the rest of the year and the rest of my career in general," he added.

On Thursday, he dominated Holger Rune in every way, who, in their first meeting, was able to see the power of the French left-hander's forehand, who announced his intentions with a shot into the top corner on the first point of the match.

In the first set, Atmane showed exceptional level, overwhelming Rune as soon as he could land a forehand, while holding his very particular serve, where he hits the ball very early after his delivery. In the ^4th game, he broke the Dane in his ^5th opportunity, a few points after a winning cross-court forehand flashed at nearly 180 km/h, before unrolling to finish the set.

After a brief period of relaxation at the start of the second set (Rune break, 0-2), the Frenchman resumed his forward march and broke the Dane's resistance in a high-flying ^fifth game (3-2). Atmane broke again at the best moment, offering to serve for the match at 5-3, and finishing the job with a winning service on his third opportunity.

The Boulonnais native is the first Frenchman to reach the Cincinnati men's semi-final since Richard Gasquet in 2019. He will face Italian world number one Jannik Sinner, an exceptional challenge against the defending champion in Ohio, crowned at Wimbledon in July, who has won 25 straight matches on hard court, and crushed Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime 6-0, 6-2 on Thursday.