Monégasque Valentin Vacherot made history by becoming the first player from the Principality to reach the semifinals of the Monte-Carlo Masters 1000. He defeated the Australian Alex de Minaur, the fifth seed, in three sets (6-4, 3-6, 6-3) and will now face the reigning champion and world number one, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.
These two players had never met before. The 27-year-old Vacherot, ranked 23rd in the ATP, made a career breakthrough last year at the Shanghai Masters 1000, where he unexpectedly won the title after coming through the qualifiers.
Vacherot became the first player in history to reach his first semifinals at two different Masters 1000 tournaments. It took him 2 hours and 25 minutes to defeat the world's sixth-ranked player.
Now he challenges Alcaraz, who had previously defeated the Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik in convincing fashion.
The local hero Valentin Vacherot had already made history on Thursday by coming back from a set down to defeat the Polish player Hubert Hurkacz, becoming the first Monegasque to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament. This was his second victory against a top 10 player this week, after eliminating last year's finalist, the Italian Lorenzo Musetti. Vacherot is set to break into the world's top 20.
