Sinner wraps up birthday win to reach 2nd Cincy final

Jannik Sinner celebrated his 24th birthday as he reached a second consecutive final at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Saturday with a 7-6 (4), 6-2  defeat of feisty French qualifier Terence Atmane.

The 136th-ranked surprise packet came to the court with back-to-back top 10 upset wins during this breakthrough week in the steamy Midwest; he will leave with a ranking roughly cut in half..

In the stadium tunnel before their start, the challenger presented defending champion Sinner with a Pokemon card as a birthday gift. Fans in the stadium later sang Happy Birthday to the defending champion.

The Italian world number one had more than a birthday to celebrate, winning his 26th consecutive hardcourt match and earning the 200th victory of his career.

He will face the winner from Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev in the Monday final, his 38th on the Tour.

Atmane became Sinner’s 22nd straight French victim since May, 2021 (lost to Arthur Rinderknech in Lyon).

“It was a very, very tough challenge every time you play a new opponent,” Sinner said. “In the later stages of the tournament,the pressure is on, they deserve to be there.”

Sinner was pleased with his serving in a tight first set decided by the narrowest of margins.

“My experience helped in the first set, I’m very happy to go through to another final. 

“My goal has always been the US Open, But we have put in the work here, in the gym and in practice.

“I just hope to be ready for New York.”

Sinner and Atmane battled for 46 minutes in an opening set featuring short-sharp exchanges as both struggled for early superiority.

Atmane’s explosive game found a match in Sinner, with the set going into a tiebreaker. The Italian took a 5-2 lead, and closed out the opener on the second of three set points from Atmane’s wide return.

Sinner secured the first break of the tight contest to lead 3-1 thanks to an overhead smash to the far corner off a short return. He followed that up with a love game for 4-1.

The top seed tightened his grip, moving to 5-2 and clinching victory after 86 minutes after Atmane saved two match points before hitting the net with a return.in the third.