Read & Watch: Vacherot Upsets Musetti In Emotional Win

Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot upset 2025 finalist Lorenzo Musetti Wednesday in a victory that likely meant as much to him as his stunning Rolex Shanghai Masters title run last year.

Played under lights on Court Rainier III with Monegasque and Italian fans raising their voices in equal measure, Vacherot eked out a gritty first set and claimed two late breaks in the second to triumph 7-6(6), 7-5.

Vacherot becomes just the second Monegasque after his half-brother and coach Benjamin Balleret to reach the third round. For a player ranked outside the Top 250 this time last year, he also improved to a remarkable 16-6 at ATP Masters 1000 level after claiming the third Top 10 win of his career.

“If someone had told me that my first Top 5 win of the season, second after Shanghai, would be here on a night session, on the centre court that I’ve been hitting on since I’m six years old, I wouldn’t have believed it,” an emotional Vacherot said on court.

“Maybe people don’t know that I love clay. I grew up playing here for 18 years before going to college and learning how to play on hard courts. But this is where I learned how to play tennis.

“Let’s say I needed a set and a half to get on it in the first round. And now my game is back.”

Vacherot was large and in charge from the service line, firing 29 unreturned serves and winning 79 per cent of first serves. He earned nine break point opportunities, converting three.

Musetti produced 28 winners in equal measure off both wings, but his 39 unforced errors were telling. Vacherot’s defensive skills were on full display as he won two-thirds of all rallies of nine shots or more.

In a dramatic first set, Vacherot was broken in the opening game but broke back immediately. Later in the set he squandered three set points across two Musetti service games before finding himself down 1/4 in the tie-break after an outrageous down-the-line backhand strike from Musetti.

But the World No. 23 clawed his way back into the tie-break and stole the first set.

In the second set Vacherot failed to serve out the match at 5-4 but broke back immediately and then closed it out at the second time of asking. He won 12 of 19 net approaches, often lured in by a series of Musetti drop shots.

Vacherot next faces Hubert Hurkacz, who defeated Fabian Marozsan 6-2, 6-3.