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Three defeats in three matches, including an elimination at Wimbledon four weeks ago, and a ranking in freefall since the start of the season. Térence Atmane, however, did not have the profile of the expected executioner in the American capital. The 23-year-old Frenchman caused a surprise on Monday evening in Washington by eliminating Frances Tiafoe, sixth seed and the highest-ranked player in the draw, in the first round of the Mubadala DC Open.
The native of Boulogne-sur-Mer built his victory on a mental solidity that had cruelly been missing in his previous encounters with the American. Facing a Tiafoe carried by a crowd won over to his cause — the child of Hyattsville, in the suburbs of Washington, was literally playing at home — Atmane never gave in during the hot moments. The Frenchman broke as early as the third game of the first set and never looked back, holding his serve with metronomic regularity.
The native of Boulogne-sur-Mer built his victory on a mental solidity that had cruelly been missing in his previous encounters with the American.
A rollercoaster season, a click at the right time
Before this tournament, Atmane's record could be summed up in two lines: only one win on the main tour in seven months and a fall out of the top 130. The semifinal reached in Cincinnati the previous summer, where he had pushed Jannik Sinner to his limits, seemed to belong to another player. But the Frenchman has always shown an ability to raise his level in North American hard-court tournaments, a surface that suits his heavy forehand striking.
The Washington click is no coincidence. Atmane played a clean match, limiting the unforced errors that had plagued his recent outings and finding aggressive zones on the return. Tiafoe, for his part, never found his rhythm: broken early in the first set, he tried to rely on his serve to stay in touch, but the Frenchman held his serves with clinical regularity. The American multiplied forehand errors, his favorite weapon, and never imposed the high tempo that is usually his strength on hard courts.
A 360-degree revenge
The head-to-head between the two men leaned heavily in the American's favor before this Monday. Tiafoe had won their three encounters in 2026: in Miami in March, in Houston in April, and then at Wimbledon in June. Each time, the power and explosiveness of the world top 20 player had made the difference in the decisive moments. In Washington, the script was reversed: it was Atmane who seized the opportunities in tight games, converting break points when Tiafoe had been fending them off one by one in their previous duels.
This victory is the Frenchman's second of the season against a top 20 member, a performance that puts him back in the conversation ahead of the US Open. For Tiafoe, the early elimination in front of his home crowd is a brutal setback after an encouraging grass-court season, marked by a title in Halle. It is also the first time since 2022 that the American has left the Washington tournament at his first match, having reached the semifinals there twice.
The rest of the draw opens up
With the exit of the tournament's highest seed, Atmane's half of the draw suddenly becomes more breathable. The Frenchman will face in the next round the winner of the duel between a qualifier and a player from the top 50, a golden opportunity to confirm his resurgence. Behind that, a potential quarterfinal against Taylor Fritz, the other American headliner, draws a demanding but not inaccessible path for a player who has just proven he can overturn mountains when he is no longer expected. The Washington tournament, the last big hard-court event before Flushing Meadows, could well become the springboard that Atmane's season was calling for.