"I don’t have any sponsors, I buy my clothes and shoes like everyone else" - Qualifier Terence Atmane achieves semi-final in Cincinnati despite having no sponsors

It has been a dream week for world number 136 Terence Atmane, who has reached the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Open. In only his fifth Masters 1000 event, he has pocketed £245k for reaching this stage, and has a tie lined up against the world number one.

This is the second consecutive Masters 1000 event he has competed in after qualifying for the Canadian Open as a lucky loser, but lost in the opening round to Emilio Nava. In Cincinnati qualifying, he defeated Aussie Omar Jasika and Li Tu to book his place in the main draw.

He overcame Yoshihito Nishioka in straight sets before knocking out Wimbledon quarter-finalist Flavio Cobolli. The 15th seed levelled the tie at 1-1, before losing out in a tense tiebreak. Young prodigy Joao Fonseca was the next to fall in a convincing win for Atmane.

It seemed his journey would come to an end with his next player being world number four and last year's US Open finalist, Taylor Fritz. However, Atmane turned a one-set deficit into a 2-1 win, clinching the tie with his second match point. He would follow that up with another top 10 win, this time against the number nine in the world, Holger Rune. He would overcome the Dane 6-2, 6-3 in a cracking victory.

He has the chance to make it through to the final, but will have to take down three-time Grand Slam champion Jannik Sinner, who has won every game he has played on hard court this year.

Tennis can be an expensive sport. There is a lot of travelling involved, accommodation, and coaches to pay for. Many players who cannot break within the top players can see themselves struggle financially, unless they can pull something out of the hat. This is what Sntmane has done this week.

An unlikely semi-finalist, the Frenchman revealed in an interview with L’Equipe that he does everything himself, with no agent and no sponsors. His previous sponsor, Asics, dropped him in last year's Shanghai Masters after he held a pair of Nike trainers on the court.

“Apart from Tecnifibre for the rackets, I don’t have any sponsors since I got dropped by Asics," he said. "I buy my clothes and shoes like everyone else. I don’t have an agent; I do my thing on my own in my corner."

Antmane will rise into the top 75 after the conclusion of this event for the first time in his career. Before this, the 23-year-old could only muster up a best ranking of 118 earlier this year. This will help him to get into more tournaments, which will earn him more money. Despite this benefit, he has revealed that he will stay grounded and now eyes up an opportunity to make an impact on the main ATP tour.

“Being top 100 means fewer qualifiers. It also validates a certain financial stability that will allow me to invest in my coaches. I’ll also be able to save some money, because when you play in Challengers, you lose a lot of money. I’ll need to be smart and keep working, show what I’m capable of on the main Tour and not just in Challengers. Now, I have to keep climbing, and it will be a great challenge. I’m not setting any limits for myself.”

The Frenchman has qualified for three Grand Slams, failing to get past the first round. He has won four Challenger titles, with a pair of them coming this year in South Korea and China. He will now be hoping to kick on from here to challenge for more titles begins.