Vacherot Wins on Paris Debut and Another Cousin Battle with Rinderknech is Next

The fairy tale has bled over from Shanghai to Paris.

On Wednesday morning Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot notched yet another Top 20 win on his Rolex Masters debut, 6-1 6-3, oer 14th-seeded Jiri Lehecka, to set a second-round clash with his cousin Arthur Rinderknech in a battle of well-deserved wild cards and a rematch of the Shanghai final, won by Vacherot.

“After Shanghai, the fact that I play here, it’s the icing on the cake,” Vacherot said. “I don’t think that I’m on cloud nine. I’m playing a wonderful match today. I did less than 10 unforced errors. I don’t think that all matches are going to be like this.”

Rinderknech battled past Fabian Marozsan on Monday in Paris, 7-6(5) 7-6(4).

Vacherot needed just 54 minutes to plow past Lehecka, meanwhile.

Rinderknech had to follow his cousin in Shanghai, playing after his wins. This time it was the other way around and he said it was easier. There will be great support for both players no matter who wins their second-round tussle.

W’e’re cousins, yes, but we’re not on the same team, so we’re not going to have dinner together tonight,” Vacherot said. “Even if in Shanghai it was a bit different, we had breakfast together, we warmed up together, it’s because we were far from everyone and everywhere. We were more on the same team in Shanghai because he came to see my matches, I would come and watch his matches, as well, and we had no one else to rely upon.

He’re, all our families are here, so we’ll stick to our sides, and I hope that we’re going to deliver a wonderful match for the crowd tomorrow.”