ATP Tour

Vacherot rallies past Lehecka to capture Basel crown, make Monegasque history

Valentin Vacherot completed a memorable week at the Swiss Indoors Basel Sunday, when he rallied from a set down to oust Jiri Lehecka and capture his first trophy of the season.

The 27-year-old downed Lehecka 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to clinch his second ATP Tour crown and become the first Monegasque player to win an ATP 500 title since the series began in 2009. After dropping serve thrice in the opening set, Vacherot crucially saved all five break points he faced across the next two sets, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

"I ended up playing a really solid second and third set," Vacherot said following his triumph. "I had to hold tight in the second set because even until the last game he had break points. Then I started serving much better in the third set and that helped me a lot. It was really important.

"I hit really good shots at the right moments and I think sometimes it's about not playing perfect for the whole match and just playing good when it matters."

Vacherot, who won his only previous tour-level crown last year at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, had to overcome a slow start in Sunday’s final to cap a remarkable second appearance at the Swiss hard-court tournament. The Monegasque struggled behind his deliveries in the first set but eventually found his groove to outlast Lehecka, who was aiming to clinch his first ATP 500 crown.

Vacherot’s win against World No. 21 Lehecka was his third against a Top-25 opponent this week at St. Jakobshalle Basel, where he also saw off World No. 11 Rafael Jodar in the second round and No. 13 Taylor Fritz in the semi-finals.

The No. 31 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Vacherot has now taken a 2-1 lead in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Lehecka, earning a measure of revenge after his loss in the Tokyo semi-finals. With his one-hour, 54-minute win in Sunday's final, Vacherot improved to 9-1 indoors this season, having suffered his sole loss to Luca Van Assche in the second round last week in Lyon.

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Lehecka produced victories against a retiring Stan Wawrinka, Daniel Altmaier, Jerome Kym and saved match point against Jan-Lennard Struff en route to the final. But the Czech could not recover after dropping serve at 2-1 in the second set as Vacherot raised his level. Following his run to the title match at the ATP 500 event, the Czech will jump six spots to No. 15 in the PIF ATP Rankings on Monday.