ATP Tour

Fritz to face Shanghai champ Vacherot in Basel draw blockbuster

Valentin Vacherot arrives at the Swiss Indoors Basel as a newly crowned ATP Masters 1000 Champion. Yet the breakout Rolex Shanghai Masters winner will have to be at his best from the start if he is to make an impact on debut at the indoor hard-court ATP 500.

Wild card Vacherot has been drawn against top seed Taylor Fritz in a blockbuster first-round clash in Switzerland. The Monegasque, flying high at a career-high No. 40 in the PIF ATP Rankings following his fairytale Shanghai run, will be playing just his seventh main draw at an ATP Tour event.

It could be a significant week in Basel for Fritz, who is fifth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and well placed to secure a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals. The American is seeded to face sixth seed Jiri Lehecka in the quarter-finals and fourth seed Casper Ruud in the semi-finals.

Ruud, who is 11th in the Live Race and himself retains hopes of reaching Turin, begins his Basel title bid against a qualifier or lucky loser, while wild card Stan Wawrinka is a potential second-round opponent for the Norwegian. The former World No. 3 and home favourite Wawrinka first plays Miomir Kecmanovic, whom he leads 1-0 in the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

In the bottom half of the draw, Fritz’s fellow Turin hopeful Ben Shelton will open against a qualifier. The second-seeded American, who is 37-19 in 2025 according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, reached the Basel championship match in 2024 before falling Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. Shelton is sixth in the Live Race, and will hope to rediscover his best form after suffering a shoulder injury at the US Open in late August.

Exploring the street art of Basel with Ben Ten 🎨#benshelton | #SwissIndoorsBasel pic.twitter.com/nLzDah5erc

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Shelton could play fellow Turin contender Felix Auger-Aliassime, who is 10th in the Live Race, in the quarter-finals. The Canadian will hope that returning to a venue where he clinched back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023 can inspire him once again The fifth-seeded Auger-Aliassime opens against his countryman Gabriel Diallo.

The big-serving Frenchman Mpetshi Perricard will take on #NextGenATP star Joao Fonseca in an intriguing first-round encounter that sits in the same quarter of the draw as seventh seed Jakub Mensik, who plays fellow #NextGenATP star Henry Bernet.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect the withdrawal of Holger Rune from the Swiss Indoors Basel.