Sinner Gives Himself 24th Birthday Gift, Advances To Cincinnati Open Final

Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner (photo: Kathryn Riley/Wick Photography for Cincinnati Open)

CINCINNATI/WASHINGTON, August 17, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

World No. 1 and defending Cincinnati Open champion Jannik Sinner celebrated his 24th birthday Saturday afternoon facing one of the hottest players on the ATP Tour, World No. 136 Terence Atmane of France, a qualifier who earlier knocked out a pair of Top-10 opponents in consecutive rounds of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio.

While the Italian came into the semifinal match with the inspirational Atmane on a 25-match winning streak on hard courts, attempting to record his 200th tour-level win on the surface after going 199-49, Sinner also looked to reach his 28th  tour-level final – eighth at ATP Masters 1000 level – and to extend his 21-match winning streak against French opponents dating back to 2021 at Roland-Garros.

Before the match Atmane, who is a big fan of the Japanese trading card game Pokémon, gave Sinner a Pikachu card from his collection as a birthday gift. By the end of the one-hour, 26-minute semifinal tussle, it was the top-seeded Sinner who checked all the boxes. He prevailed 7-6 (4), 6-2, and was serenaded by the capacity crowd of 11,614 on P&G Center Court, who sang “Happy Birthday” to him.

While Atmane earned wins over World No. 4 Taylor Fritz of the United States and World No. 9 Holger Rune of Denmark to advance to his first ATP Tour quarterfinal and semifinal, his attempt to become the first player to reach his first ATP Tour-level final at an ATP Masters 1000 event since Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at Monte-Carlo in 2022 – and the third active French ATP Masters 1000 finalist after Gaël Monfils and Ugo Humbert – fell just short, but not for a lack of effort or desire.

“It was a very, very tough challenge,” Sinner said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “Every time you play against something completely new, it’s difficult, but playing against this guy in the later stages of a tournament is even more difficult. The pressure is higher and you know they deserve to be there. … He has beaten incredible players throughout his wins.”

Both competitors began the semifinal by playing lights out during their quick, respective service games – with neither facing much pressure or break points through 6-all. Sinner dropped just one point on his first serve and Atmane four. They combined for 12 service aces (six by Sinner, six by Atmane). 

Then, during the first-set tie-break, Atmane double-faulted and whacked a forehand long and wide – and found himself trailing 2-0 without much effort from Sinner. He gave away another unforced error in gifting Sinner a 3-0 lead. Soon, Sinner pushed ahead 4-2 after Atmane netted a forehand that killed a 14-shot rally – the fourth unforced error by the Frenchman during the tie-break. A backhand running volley winner gave Sinner some breathing room at 5-2. However, Atmane won a 22-shot back-and-forth offensive rally with a blistering forehand to make it 5-3 and, later, hit a fourth-shot forehand winner to keep it close, trailing 6-4. 

Finally, Sinner won the 46-minute opening set 7-4 on his second set-point opportunity after Atmane committed his 15 unforced error with a netted return. Throughout the tie-break, Sinner showed why he’s among the best at being calm under pressure.

Soon, Sinner gained the first break point of the match when he went ahead 15-40 on Atmane’s second service game of the second set. Atmane saved it but Sinner broke with a forth-shot overhead smash winner to go ahead 3-1. Then, Sinner consolidated the break with a love hold to push ahead 4-1 as fatigue began to set in for Atmane. However, Atmane showed he wasn’t quite ready to concede as he held with his eighth ace of the semifinal to trail 4-2. Sinner held at 15 in the next game to move ahead 5-2 needing just one more hold of serve to advance to his fifth final of the season. 

Atmane saved two match points in the next game on his serve. However, Sinner’s savvy experience won the match for him and Atmane’s dream run ended when he netted a third-shot forehand return. The two competitors embraced at the net. 

Sinner finished with 21 winners – including six aces – made just 16 unforced errors and won 91 percent (32 of 35) of his first-serve points. He faced no break points on his serve and converted two of five break-point opportunities. Sinner outpointed Atmane 68-50. By comparison, Atmane fired nine aces and hit 16 winners, but committed 24 unforced errors. He won 78 percent (31 of 40) of his first-serve points.

“For my side, I’m very happy to be again in a final,” Sinner said. “Let’s see what’s coming.”

Sinner is safely through to his fifth ATP Tour final of the season, and for Atmane, who will rise to No. 69 in the PIF ATP Rankings next week, it’s off to Flushing Meadows, N.Y. to begin the process of qualifying for the US Open main draw starting Monday.

After the match, Atmane shared his thoughts with reporters: “Absolutely crazy, insane. I still cannot believe that I made the semifinals here,” he said. “Playing against Sinner today was also a very good memory for myself, and I will remember that for a long time.”

Alcaraz reaches seventh straight final this season 

World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz met World No. 3 Alexander Zverev as the 22-year-old Spaniard looked to reach his second Cincinnati Open final in three years. Alcaraz came into the semifinal with the German No. 1, the 2021 Cincinnati champion, leading the ATP Tour in wins (52) and titles (5) this season and aimed to advance to his seventh consecutive final since losing to David Goffin of Belgium in the second round of the Miami Open in March. 

In their 12th career meeting, Alcaraz leveled their head-to-head at 6-all with his 6-4, 6-3 victory in one hour and 45 minutes on P&G Center Court Saturday evening. After a fast-paced opening set, Zverev began to struggle early in the second set. By the end of the semifinal, Zverev was visibly ill after taking a medical time out during the third-game changeover. He barely lifted his racquet during the final two games of the match, after Alcaraz had broken to go ahead for good at 4-3. 

As they met at the net, Alcaraz showed a sympathetic side toward Zverev and was very subdued in his victory celebration out of respect for his fallen opponent. Afterward, Alcaraz wrote on the camera lens: “Happy for the final but feeling bad for Sascha. Wish you all the best.”

Alcaraz finished the semifinal with 27 winners – including 11 aces – and won 81 percent (22 of 27) of his first-serve points. He saved four of five break points he faced and broke Zverev’s serve four times in six opportunities. Alcaraz outpointed Zverev 66-46. By comparison, Zverev mustered just nine winners, made 25 unforced errors and won just 54 percent (25 of 46) of his first-serve points. 

“It’s never easy playing against someone that you know isn’t feeling 100 percent,” Alcaraz said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “It’s even tougher when it comes from Sascha, such a great player, such a great person off the court. We have a really good relationship. It was difficult.

“We started the match really good, playing good rallies, a good level of tennis. But then all of a sudden he started to feel bad and my focus was thinking about how he was feeling instead of focusing on myself and playing good tennis. It was a really difficult situation for me and I just wish him all the best.”

The victory for Alcaraz sets up a Monday afternoon final between the top two players on the ATP Tour – and it will be the fourth time they’ve met in a final this season. Alcaraz defeated Sinner to win the ATP Masters 1000 title in Rome, then beat him in an epic five-setter to win Roland-Garros. Next, Sinner rallied to beat Alcaraz to win the Wimbledon Championships in their most recent meeting. Overall, Alcaraz leads their head-to-head 8-5 and has beaten Sinner five times in seven meetings on hard courts. He has a 3-2 edge in finals.

Around the Cincinnati Open

In the men’s doubles semifinals Saturday afternoon on P&G Center Court, No. 2 seeds Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain, winners of four straight tournaments – Queen’s Club, Eastbourne, Wimbledon and Toronto – finally met their match in Nikola Mektic of Croatia and Rajeev Ram of the United States. 

In a one-hour, 40-minute battle of high quality tennis that came down to being decided by two tie-breakers, Mektic and Ram prevailed by upsetting Cash and Glasspool, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) to advance to Sunday’s title match. 

Mektic and Ram combined to hit nine aces and won 79 percent (55 of 70) of their service points. They converted two of 10 break points and outpointed Cash and Glasspool 79-65. Mektic and Ram are 5-2 as a team since forming earlier this summer at the DC Open. They’ve moved up 188 places in the PIF ATP Live Rankings to No. 33 and could rise to No. 25 with a title victory. Cash and Glasspool dropped to 51-12 and Saturday’s loss ended their 22-match winning streak. However, they will become the World No. 1 team next week when the ATP Rankings are updated. 

In the second semifinal, after upsetting current World No. 1s and top seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia in Friday’s quarterfinals, No. 5 seeds Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski of Great Britain took on Italian duo Lorenzo Musetti and Lorenzo Sonego in the semifinal round – and lost. 

Musetti and Sonego rallied to upset Salisbury and Skupski, 4-6, 6-3, 13-11. They won on their sixth match point opportunity after squandering a 9-5 lead in the match tie-break after an hour and 39 minutes of play. Musetti and Sonego also saved a match point at 11-10.

Musetti and Sonego combined to hit five aces, including an ace by Musetti that gave the Lorenzos an 12-11 lead in the match tie-break. They won 83 percent (35 of 42) of their first-serve points and outpointed Salisbury and Skupski 63-57.

Saturday’s Cincinnati Open results 

Sunday’s Cincinnati Open order of play

By the numbers

• At age 22 years and three months, Carlos Alcaraz is the third-youngest player to reach nine Masters 1000 finals, after Rafael Nadal (20) and Novak Djokovic (21).

• Alexander Zverev is the sixth ATP player this century to reach four-plus Cincinnati Open semifinals. The others are: Novak Djokovic (9), Roger Federer (8), Andy Murray (5), Andy Roddick (5) and Lleyton Hewitt (5).

“Quotable …”

“I knew that I had to be very careful, and my mindset was in a good spot. I felt like I handled the situations on the court very well. He was serving incredibly well in the first set. He has huge, huge potential, and I think we saw that in the tournament. I wish him only the best.”

– World No. 1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner of Italy, during his on-court interview after defeating qualifier Terence Atmane of France to advance to the Cincinnati Open final.

 

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