Vacherot, History-Making Machine, Reaches Monte-Carlo Milestone with Win over Hurkacz

Remember a year ago, when the casual tennis fan had never even heard of Valentin Vacherot? The Monegasque was ranked No. 256 in the world and had never won a Masters 1000 match.

Now he has 17 such wins, and on a chilly Thursday evening at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, the 27-year-old became the first player from Monaco to reach the quarterfinals at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters with a 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 win over Hubert Hurkacz.

He also rose to No. 19 in the live rankings, assuring himself of a Top 20 debut on Monday.

Vacherot squandered a 4-0 lead in the opening set against the former World No. 6 but never stopped pushing as he improved to 16-3 at the Masters 1000 level since the start of his remarkable title run at last year’s Shanghai Masters.

“4-0 pretty quickly,” he said on court after Thursday’s victory. “I was missing a lot, and I started to stop missing. My serve wasn’t really effective, so there were a lot of rallies, and I started to win more of them.

“With the crowd and everything, it was really easy to get back in there. I got my chance to break, I took it, and from there it was a new match.”

Vacherot will face No. 5 seed Alex de Minaur in Friday’s quarterfinals. It will be his first ATP quarterfinal on clay. He handled difficult conditions exceptionally well on Thursday, relying on his physicality to grind his way past the No. 74-ranked Pole.

“It’s pretty cold, it’s so humid, the balls are so heavy, so it’s really hard to hit a winner. I’m really happy with the way I played in the third, because I tried to hit a lot harder and be really aggressive, even though the conditions were slow — coming to the net a lot in the last game to close it out.”

“Physicality is one of my weapons. I love long matches — the longer it goes, the more confidence I have and the more I want to win.”

Vacherot was ranked No. 256 at Monte-Carlo last year, when he defeated Jan-Lennard Struff for his first career Masters 1000 win. This year, he’s on the cusp of the Top 20 and becoming a recognized name among tennis fans.

More importantly, with his performances since his breakout run in Shanghai — which include a quarterfinal at last year’s Paris Masters and a round-of-16 showing last week in Miami — he has proven that he has the talent to remain among the game’s elite.