On his 24th birthday, top seed and defending champion Jannik Sinner thwarted French qualifier Terence Atmane’s impressive journey at the Cincinnati Open with a 7-6 6-2 victory on Saturday. The match secured Sinner’s spot in the final of this U.S. Open warm-up event.

Sinner dominated with a 91% success rate on his first serve, faced no break points, and converted two out of five break chances in his initial encounter with world number 136 Atmane.

“Very, very tough challenge,” Sinner remarked post-match after fans sang him “Happy Birthday.” He continued, “Playing against someone entirely new is always challenging. I stayed cautious and maintained a positive mindset.”

The match’s first set was intensely contested, with no break points for either athlete. Sinner held command in the tiebreaker after Atmane’s initial double fault.

The reigning champion of the U.S. Open, Australian Open, and Wimbledon began the second set with a robust serve hold, broke Atmane for a 3-1 lead, ultimately wrapping up the match as Atmane faltered at 2-5 in the second set.

Sinner is set to face either Carlos Alcaraz or Alexander Zverev in the final on Monday.

This report was generated from an automated news agency feed with no text edits.