In a late-night three-set thriller, Valentin Vacherot rallied from a set down to power past Pole Hubert Hurkacz, becoming the first Monegasque player to reach the quarterfinals at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Thursday.
World No. 23 Valentin Vacherot continued his run of form on home soil Thursday, shining bright under the lights on Court Rainier III, where he produced a memorable turnaround to prevail over world No. 6 Hubert Hurkacz 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 53 minutes.
βPhysicality is one of my weapons,β he expressed in his on-court interview. βI love long matches. The longer it goes, the more confidence I have that I can win.β
The home hero has built a consistent campaign at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, making history in the process by becoming the first Monegasque player to advance to the quarterfinals at the event.
The maiden meeting on Tour between two big-serving players quickly saw them engage in lengthy baseline rallies, pushing one another to the edge from the get-go.
Assessing his performance, the 27-year-old commented: βI got to 4-0 pretty quickly, Hubi was missing a lot, and I was playing my clay game pretty well. But then he found a way to win a lot of the [long] rallies we were having.
βBut I got a bit of confidence back in the tiebreak to take into the second set, even though I was a little low on energy. But the crowd helped me get the energy back."
The Shanghai Masters champion broke twice in the early stages of the first set and held to extend his lead to 4-0.
However, the Polish player found his rhythm in the fifth game, holding his ground to set off an impressive recovery, coming back from 1-4 down to force a tiebreak.
The former Miami Open winner kicked up a level, taking the last four points in a row to seal it 7-6(4) in 70 minutes.
As the second set wore on, the duel of titans went the distance as the unseeded local player raised his game behind his serve, winning 87 percent of the points on his first serve.
Meanwhile, the Wroclaw native committed too many unforced errors in crucial moments, 6 against 1, and missed both break-point opportunities he had.
All in all, in a match with little to no margin for error, his erratic display allowed Vacherot to level the contest one set apiece, forcing a decider.
Saving the best for last, they put on a fierce battle for a ticket into the last eight, going with serves until the Mexican Open quarterfinalist broke the Pole, on a comeback trail from injury, to take the seventh game.
From there, he stayed the course, fending off three break points in the 10th game to wrap up proceedings 6-4, ready to navigate into uncharted territory at the Monte-Carlo Country Club.
Further speaking about the late-night thriller, Vacherot said: "Itβs cold and humid, and the balls were heavy, so it was really hard to hit a winner. I was really happy with how I handled the conditions in the third set and how I came in a lot.β
Overall, he hit 20 winners to 16 unforced errors, compared to Hurkacz's 41 against 16.
In addition, he won 74 percent of the points on his first serve, saving 11 of the 13 break points he faced across the tight encounter.
Next, he will square off against world No. 6 Alex de Minaur for a place in the semifinals, marking their first clash at tour level.
Earlier, fifth seed De Minaur defeated Belgian qualifier Alexander Blockx 7-5, 7-6(4) in one hour and 47 minutes, becoming the first Australian player to make three Monte-Carlo quarterfinals in the Open Era.