Tokyo, Oct 4 (IANS) Valentin Vacherot continued his extraordinary run at the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships on Sunday, recovering from a breakdown in both the opening and deciding sets to defeat former champion Arthur Fils 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 and book his place in the semi-finals.
The Monegasque spent two hours and 20 minutes battling through another three-set contest, adding Fils to a growing list of opponents he has overcome through sheer resilience this week. The 27-year-old had already produced a major turnaround against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round, recovering from a set and a break behind to advance.
Against Fils, Vacherot again refused to let an unfavourable position dictate the outcome. He overturned a break deficit in the first set by winning four games in a row and repeated the feat after falling behind in the third.
“I believed and turned it around in the first set. Then, in the third, I was a bit more positive that I could break him back because I was at 30/30 in a lot of his service games. Maybe he should have won one of the first or third sets, but I won both of them. That's tennis. That’s the beauty,” Vacherot, who is now 5-5 against top-10 players, was quoted by ATP.
The decisive moment arrived with Fils serving at 4-5 in the final set. Vacherot immediately went on the offensive, producing two successive return winners before forcing the Frenchman through two long rallies. He eventually earned the break he needed to close out the match.
The victory sends Vacherot into his third ATP Tour semi-final and continues a remarkable resurgence that began during last year’s Asian hard-court swing.
At the time, Vacherot was ranked No. 204 and entered the Shanghai Masters as a qualifier. He went on to win the title, becoming the lowest-ranked ATP Masters 1000 champion in the history of the series since 1990.
His title defence in Shanghai begins next week, where he will have 1,000 points to defend. Despite the points pressure, his Tokyo run has lifted him four places to No. 14 in the ATP Live Rankings as he continues his pursuit of a maiden Top-10 ranking.
Fils, meanwhile, saw his hopes of strengthening his position in the race for a place at the Nitto ATP Finals take a blow. The 22-year-old is currently seventh in the ATP ‘Race To Turin’, but Daniil Medvedev and Alex de Minaur, occupying eighth and ninth, respectively, remain in contention and can still close the gap in Beijing.
The defeat was particularly disappointing for Fils, given his strong history in Tokyo. He won the tournament in 2024 and reached a career-high ranking of No. 9 earlier this week. However, after missing the entry deadline, he had to begin this year’s campaign in qualifying.
Fils fought his way through the qualifiers before defeating Luca Van Assche and Frances Tiafoe to reach the quarter-finals, only for his run to end against Vacherot.
The Monegasque will next face Jiri Lehecka for a place in the final. Lehecka wrapped up the quarter-final stage by sweeping aside Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 6-1, 6-1 in just 58 minutes.
The Czech has now reached his 14th ATP Tour semi-final and his third of the season. Vacherot holds a 1-0 record against Lehecka, having defeated him in their only previous ATP Head2Head meeting at the Paris Masters last year.
Vacherot is one of only two seeded players still standing in Tokyo, with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz potentially awaiting him in the final. The top seed advanced earlier in the day after Denis Shapovalov retired during their quarterfinal.
--IANS
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