World No. 1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner advanced to his second consecutive Cincinnati Masters final by defeating French qualifier Terence Atmane 7-6(4) 6-2 on Saturday, the day he turned 24. The Italian stretched his hard-court winning streak to 26 matches and has now captured 21 sets in a row on the surface, becoming the first man since Roger Federer to reach back-to-back finals at the event. Atmane, ranked 136th, capped a breakthrough week that included victories over top-10 players Taylor Fritz and Holger Rune. Before the semi-final, he handed Sinner a Pikachu Pokémon card as a birthday gift—a moment the top seed described as "a nice surprise." The run guarantees the 23-year-old about $332,000 in prize money and a rise to a projected No. 69 ahead of next week’s US Open qualifying rounds. In the second semi-final, world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz dismissed Alexander Zverev 6-4 6-3 to reach his seventh successive final and extend his Masters-series winning streak to 16 matches. Zverev appeared to struggle with back discomfort in the second set, but the Spaniard maintained focus to record his 44th career victory over a top-10 opponent. Monday’s championship will be the 14th meeting between Sinner and Alcaraz and their third final of the season after splitting titles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Alcaraz leads the rivalry 8-5 and can return to world No. 1 by completing a Cincinnati–US Open double, while Sinner seeks to defend his title and lengthen his dominant run on hard courts.