Tennis fans might have assumed they were about to be treated to a fantastic match in the third round of the Monte-Carlo Masters when Hubert Hurkacz faced hometown hero Valentin Vacherot. The two players' skillsets were so close to one another; how could a wonderful outcome not happen?
To be fair to Hurkacz, his current ranking of 74 is misleading. He is a former No. 6 (just two years ago), and more capable of success than most other players ever ranked so low at the age of 29. In the live rankings, he had moved up to No. 64, even before he faced Vacherot, and that was misleading, too.
Vacherot, however, was the rare player from Monaco who had Monte-Carlo residents wishing the local well. He had, too. Already No. 23 and playing with the form of a top-15 player entering the match against the Pole, the Monegasque simply needed more consistency playing the best on the ATP to rise in the rankings.
Valentin Vacherot defeats Hubert Hurkacz at the 2026 Monte-Carlo Masters
Hurkacz was a good test. The big-serving pole isn't the best on clay, but neither is Vacherot, but nobody cared on the clay of Monte-Carlo.
In the first set, the local player jumped out to a commanding 4-1 lead and seemed well on his way to the quarterfinals. That lasted only a few minutes, as Hurkacz found himself and rebounded to force a tie-break, which he won 7-4.
All the happiness that the Monegasque had early in the match had gone, and the only thing that appeared to be saving vanishing Valentin Vacherot was that the second set would lead to a brilliant third and final set. He helped set the formula for that with a great performance in set two, taking it 6-3.
Neither player could hold momentum for long at any point in the match. Even Vacherot's seemingly strong second set score wasn't true. He had to battle the entire way, and shockingly had zero aces to 10 for Hurkacz, the real difference being that the Monegasque was far less effective on his second serve.
This led to the epic third-set game with the set tied 3-all. Vacherot got a break point, and then Hurkacz did. The Monegasque played with changing the narrative of the match multiple times, and finished the game on the fourth break point. All he needed to do was hold serve, leading 4-3.
Valentin then held with ease, and Hurkacz did the same in relatively quick fashion. The nerves for Valentin had to be immense as he had been so open about how important winning in Monte-Carlo would be. Yet, after falling down a break-point, and in a nearly three-hour match, he was able to pull through and win the final set 6-4.
Valentin Vacherot will next face Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals, two players with distinctively different styles. With the victory, Vacherot is in the ATP live rankings' top 20 for the first time in his career.