The best story of the 2026 Monte-Carlo Masters is likely the run that Monaco-native Valentin Vacherot has been on. The 27-year-old toiled for much of his career, but seems to have found himself in the last six months. No one can doubt him now.
The question is still how high his ceiling can be. Is he good enough to hang around the top 30 on the ATP tour for a while, or will he be solid for most of a year and revert to his previous form? For fans in Monte-Carlo, they are clearly hoping for the former.
Alex de Minaur obviously wasn't hoping for good things entering his match against the suddenly voracious Vacherot. De Minaur has been a relative success on the ATP tour because of his work ethic and his speed. His ceiling is also limited, but because he lacks the kind of power that Vacherot has.
Valentin Vacherot through to the Monte-Carlo Masters semifinals after defeating Alex de Minaur
That played out in the first set, which should have been even easier for the Monegasque as he got a break early and jumped out to a commanding lead that he almost let completely slip away before getting away with a 6-4 victory.
Vacherot dipped in form in set two, especially with his serve. He landed as many first serves, but caused himself issues with a couple of double faults. He also won just three of his nine second serves. While de Mianur played his normal metronomic form, the Monegasque only had four winners but 12 unforced errors in the second set.
Through two sets, he presented what he can do at his best and what he can do at his worst. He has a huge serve that can dictate play, and he moves quite well, but he doesn't have a bombastic forehand, so when he gets into rallies against extremely fast players like de Minaur, he can get into trouble.
But this quarterfinal match was not one where things stayed the same for long. It was de Minaur who found himself hitting far too many unforced errors as the set grew old, and he was pressured more by Valentin Vacherot's break of service midway through.
After that, the player from Monaco began to find shots he didn't have previously, digging cross-court shots out of the dirt only to answer with magnificent cross-court shots of his own. It was magical tennis, and the Monte-Carlo crowd was firmly behind it.
Leading 5-3 with the Australian serving, Vacherot jumped ahead 15-40, but two unbelievable drop shots by de Minaur got the game back to even. On the next point, Vacherot hit another winner, and the crowd was ready for him to take the next point and the match, which he did and took set three 6-3.
... will next face Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals. That will likely be the end of their Monte-Carlo Masters run, especially if the ATP No. 1 is in the same form he was in his quarterfinal match against Alexander Bublik. The Kazakhstani only won three games against the Spaniard, and none in the second set.