Valentin Vacherot, who stormed through qualifying and the main draw to win the Shanghai Masters title in what was a “fairytale” run, couldn’t maintain that momentum when he took on Taylor Fritz in the opening round of the Swiss Indoor Basel, a 500-level tournament.
I had more control over the match when it was played a little faster Taylor Fritz
Top seed Fritz still had his hands full beating the Monegasque player who surprised him by winning the first set, but recovered to record a 4-6 7-6(4) 7-5 victory and admitted he had been difficult.
“As we played the match, I started to understand why these conditions existed [in Shanghai] suits him very well,” Fritz said of Vacherot. “When the balls got worn out and things slowed down a lot, he controlled me the most and dominated me. In the last game I was able to get the break with new balls. I had more control over the match when it was played a little faster.”
With his victory lasting two hours and 36 minutes, Fritz took another step towards ensuring he reaches the ATP finals in Turin and currently sits fifth in the Race standings.
Fritz will face last week’s Stockholm finalist Ugo Humbert after the French dispatched Sebastia Korda 6-3 6-4.
Meanwhile, the two players battling it out for the final qualifying spot, currently occupied by Lorenzo Musetti competing in Vienna this week, kept the pressure on the Italian by advancing to the second round.
Felix Auger Aliassime defeated his Canadian compatriot Gabriel Diallo 6-2 7-5, while Casper Ruud defeated French Lucky Loser Quentin Halys 6-1 7-6(3).
Auger-Aliassime is ninth and Ruud is eleventh in the Race standings, but Jack Draper, in tenth place, is out for the rest of the season due to injury.
“He [Diallo] is a great player,” said Auger-Aliassime, who won back-to-back Basel titles in the 2022-2023 season. “It was difficult to play against such a good friend, a bit awkward… I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous at the start of a match. We send each other messages throughout the year to cheer each other up. It’s great that we can play against each other on the ATP Tour.”
In the second round in Basel, Auger-Aliassime next faces qualifier Marin Cilic and Ruud takes on 40-year-old Swiss wildcard, three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, who won their only previous meeting at this event in 2022.
Zandschulp’s Lucky Loser Botic also made progress after beating last week’s Brussels finalist Jiri Lehecka 6-2 6-2 and will next meet American giant Reilly Opelka.
In the second round, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina needed two hours and 47 minutes to beat Jenson Brooksby 6-7(6) 6-4 7-5 and reach the quarter-finals, where he was joined in the last eight by Joao Fonseca, who was given a walkover by Jakub Mensik due to an injury to his left foot.
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