Terence Atmane produced one of the tournament’s most startling results when the world No 136 dismantled ninth-ranked Holger Rune 6-2, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open. The match lasted just an hour and 13 minutes as the powerful left-hander dominated with his serve and aggressive groundstrokes.

Atmane won 85% of points behind his first serve, struck 21 winners to 18 unforced errors and broke Rune four times. The victory extended a remarkable streak to seven straight wins at the event—two in qualifying and five in the main draw—and sent the 23-year-old into the last four in Cincinnati.

Earlier in the week Atmane beat world No 4 Taylor Fritz in the last 16. That result, combined with his win over Rune, made him the fourth qualifier to record multiple wins over top 10 opponents at a single Masters 1000 event, joining Guillermo Canas, Jerzy Janowicz and Yannick Hanfmann.

Prior to his two marquee victories he beat Joao Fonseca, Flavio Cobolli, Yoshihito Nishioka, Li Tu and Omar Jasika to reach the quarter-finals. He is only the third qualifier to make the men’s semi-finals in Cincinnati since 1990, following David Wheaton (1994) and Alexandr Dolgopolov (2015).

After the match Atmane said: “I don’t think any words can describe how I feel right now. It’s pretty insane to be honest. I cannot believe it.

“Being here in the semi-finals of a Masters 1000, breaking into the Top 100 and even more with the win tonight — it’s also a lot of money for me, so it’s going to be very helpful for my career. It means a lot to me. I’m very emotional about it.

“I couldn’t really sleep last night with the win against Taylor. I was just trying to be myself on court, trying to enjoy it as much as I can because I have nothing to lose, that’s the advantage I have of being the underdog here coming from the qualies.

“I think this is going to give me a lot of confidence for the rest of the year and in my career in general.”

The result propelled Atmane up 67 places to No 69 in the Live ATP Rankings, as he collected 413 points in Cincinnati. His semi-final opponent will be world No 1 and four-time Grand Slam champion Jannik Sinner, the reigning Cincinnati champion, who beat world No 28 Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-0, 6-2 in the quarter-finals. The two have never met.

Andrey Rublev has spent the North American hard-court swing building momentum, and the arrival of Marat Safin in his on-site team is set to coincide with the next chapter. Rublev followed a semifinal in Los Cabos with back-to-back quarterfinals in Toronto and Cincinnati, and the coach’s visa issues that kept Safin away from the U.S. have now been resolved.

Dinara Safina confirmed the development on a Russian-language podcast with Anna Chakvetadze. “(Yes), he’s going to pick (up his passport) on the 13th.” When Chakvetadze followed up—“So, Marat Safin will be with Andrey Rublev at the US Open?”—Safina confirmed again.

Safin has been advising from a distance through the summer after officially joining the team for the clay season. Rublev has spoken openly about on-court and off-court changes this year, including a greater willingness to finish points at the net and a focus on mental health. “Well, for sure I did huge improvements, but in the end it’s daily work, daily routine, daily challenge,” he said. “(You need) to be aware (of yourself), and it’s very challenging because it’s easy to do everything automatic.”

There has been staffing turnover as well. Rublev told Tennis.com he parted ways with Alberto Martin after Rome; Fernando Vicente remains head coach. “We have a really good relationship with him,” Rublev said. “Alberto is… really one of the nicest guys that I ever met. He’s a really amazing coach. We didn’t finish nothing in a bad way or something like that, but yeah we go our separate ways after Rome.”

Rublev has praised Safin’s perspective. “Everything is great,” Rublev said. “I like a lot his advices—just in general, the things that he sees, the way he sees those things, and that’s it. Hopefully he’s coming to US Open and we will have more memories.”

On court in Cincinnati, the No. 9 seed has enjoyed a run that includes some personal payback. He heads into a Friday quarterfinal against No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Rublev in the Wimbledon fourth round and extended his head-to-head lead to 3-1 after rallying from a set down. “(I learned) that I must keep working, that I’m on the right path and this is the level that I need to aim for to be able to compete,” Rublev said. “At that level, one or two points and you get broken. Against players like that, you have to play at that level for four and a half hours without losing focus even slightly. That’s what I’m aiming for.”

The Cincinnati quarterfinal between No. 3 Alexander Zverev and No. 6 Ben Shelton represents the first meeting of Top 10 players in the men’s draw at this event. Shelton arrives on a nine-match winning streak that includes his first Masters 1000 title in Toronto last week and has carried him into another Masters 1000 quarterfinal in Cincinnati.

For Shelton this is the first time he has reached back-to-back Masters 1000 quarterfinals. His recent run also included a straight-sets victory over No. 4-ranked Taylor Fritz in Canada. Shelton’s two best career wins to date came against No. 4-ranked opponents: he beat then-No. 4 Jannik Sinner in Shanghai in 2023 and he beat the No. 4-ranked Taylor Fritz last week in Canada. Shelton has not yet beaten a Top 3 player.

Zverev, by contrast, has been dominant in their head-to-head. The German has won all three of their previous meetings. Their first encounter came in the same round in Cincinnati a year ago, a close match that Zverev won 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5. They met twice more this year: Zverev took the Munich final 6-2, 6-4 and followed that with a 7-6 (8), 7-6 (1) victory in the Stuttgart semifinals.

The matchup presents a stylistic and narrative contrast: Shelton’s momentum and recent title run versus Zverev’s clean record in their meetings and experience closing tight matches. The official estimated start time for this quarterfinal is 7:00 p.m. ET, Friday, August 15.

This contest will determine who advances deeper into the Cincinnati draw and could shape expectations heading into the US Open swing. With Zverev holding a 3-0 advantage and Shelton seeking to extend a nine-match streak that began with his run to a first Masters 1000 trophy, the quarterfinal has clear storylines and tangible stakes.