Taylor Fritz completes Valentin Vacherot comeback in Basel

Taylor Fritz completed a come-from-behind victory against one of the fastest rising stars I the men’s game, knocking out Rolex Shanghai Masters champion Valentin Vacherot, 4-7, 7-6 (4), 7-5 to advance at the Swiss Indoors Basel.

"It was a tough match," Fritz said on court. "know he’s coming in very high on confidence. I think that I did a good job just staying with it. It was very frustrating for me when I was up a break in every set but let it slip each time, but I did a good job staying with it."

Vacherot shocked the tennis world earlier this month when the Monégasque journeyman stormed from qualifying to win the biggest title of his career. Playing his first match since defeating cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the Shanghai final, Vacherot came close to pulling off another big win but fell just short against the top-seeded Fritz, who rallied to win in two hours and 36 minutes on Center Court.

Fritz has enjoyed a solid fall swing, leading Team World to victory in Laver Cup and finishing runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo. After suffering an early Shanghai exit to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, the world No. 4 arrived in Basel looking to confirm a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals for a second straight year. Runner-up in Turin last year, Fritz is currently fifth in the PIF ATP Race to Turin and has played strong tennis indoors, but found himself in trouble early on against Vacherot.

The unseeded 26-year-old broke Fritz twice to claim the opening set and roared back from 5-3 down in the second, saving four set points on en route to a tiebreaker.

Fritz took another big lead in the Sudden Death, winning the first four points to ultimately open a 6-1 advantage; Vacherot saved three more set points but couldn’t close the gap against the American, who leveled the contest at one set apiece.

"From the second-set tiebreaker onwards, I started to feel a lot better," Fritz said. "I think in the first set, maybe not feeling the best on certain points. But from that second-set breaker, did a great job and played about as good as I could with big serve, big forehand. I saved myself for a really crucial point in the third."

Fritz looked to have the match wrapped up when he scored the first break of the decider. Two points from a 5-2 deficit, Vacherot turned the tables on Fritz once more to get the match back on serve, landing a strong serve to tie the set up at four games all.

With the match edging past the two-hour, 20-minute mark, Fritz fought to keep the match in his grasp and saved a break point to put himself a game from the finish line. Vacherot dug out of another hole to even the score, but Fritz proved too tough in the final stages, breaking one last time to edge over the finish line.

Up next for the American is France's Ugo Humbert, who finished runner-up at the BNP Paribas Nordic Open last week. Fritz has won both of their previous encounters for a 2-0 head-to-head advantage, playing most recently at the Canadian Open in 2023.

"He’s a really dangerous player," Fritz said of Humbert. "Obviously, he serves big and hits the ball big. Lefty, as well. I’m going to have to get used to that, but it’s going to be a lot of big hitting."