The world No. 1, who was celebrating his 24th birthday, has now won his last 26 matches in a row on this surface.

Unless you’re a tennis die-hard, you probably didn’t know much about Terence Atmane before this week. The 23-year-old Frenchman is ranked as the World No. 136 and has played just 14 matches on the ATP Tour in the last calendar year.

French qualifier Terence Atmane said his Saturday Cincinnati Open semi-final against world number one Jannik Sinner will remain his brightest tennis memory despite absorbing a 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 loss to the defending champion.

Sinner did not want to compare himself with the Big 4, admitting they are on a different level. Instead, he is writing his own story while chasing more records and tennis immortality. There is a direct correlation between Jannik Sinner’s success and a small little lion in his bag 🦁 pic.twitter.com/KjX6Y5OyUe

Jannik Sinner was subjected to an unusual chant from the Cincinnati Open crowd before his match against Terence Atmane. The young Italian was pitted against his French rival in the semi-finals, having won all of his previous matches without dropping a set.

World number one Jannik Sinner reaches the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals with a 6-4 7-6 (7-4) victory over a stubborn Adrian Mannarino.