No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy wanted simply an hour and quarter-hour to eliminate Twenty third-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals of the Cincinnati Open Thursday in Mason, Ohio.
Sinner received off to a dominant begin to his quarterfinal matchup, profitable the primary set in 27 minutes and shedding simply two factors throughout his three first-set service video games. Auger-Aliassime broke Sinner to start out the second set and opened a 2-0 lead, however the Italian roared again, profitable every of the subsequent six video games to shut out the match.
“I had a small drop within the second set when he broke me. It may have been a small change however I’m blissful I broke him again fairly early,” Sinner stated. “He’s a really tough opponent as a result of he serves nicely, he strikes nicely, bodily in unbelievable form and hits the forehand very nicely. However we ready in one of the simplest ways, additionally tactically and I felt like as we speak I used to be enjoying some nice tennis.”
It was Sinner’s eleventh straight victory and his first-ever win over Auger-Aliassime within the first match between the 2 since 2022.
After profitable the 2024 Cincinnati Open, Sinner is thru his first 4 matches on this 12 months’s occasion with out dropping a set.
Sinner’s semifinal opponent can be French qualifier Terence Atmane, who upset No. 7 seed Holger Rune of Denmark 6-2, 6-3.
Atmane, a 23-year-old who’s ranked 136th on this planet, is thru to his first profession Masters 1000 semifinal. He’s the primary qualifier to succeed in the Cincinnati semifinals in 10 years. The Frenchman had gained simply one in every of 4 tour-level matches this 12 months earlier than arriving in Cincinnati.
“I do not suppose any phrases can describe how I really feel proper now,” stated Atmane, who has no attire sponsors and no agent. “It is fairly insane to be trustworthy. I can not imagine it. Being right here within the semi-finals of a Masters 1000, breaking into the High 100 and much more with the win tonight — it is also some huge cash for me, so it will be very useful for my profession. It means quite a bit to me. I am very emotional about it.”
Earlier Thursday, American Ben Shelton continued his robust run with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 22 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic to advance to the quarterfinals.
It was a clutch efficiency for fifth-seeded Shelton, who was locked into 4-4 deadlocks in every of the 2 units vs. Lehecka earlier than breaking him every time after which serving to clinch the set.
Shelton will face No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany in a quarterfinal matchup between two gamers who’ve every not but dropped a set within the occasion.
–Discipline Stage Media/Reuters
