Sachko's Fairy Tale in Metz: "After the Qualifiers, I Was Looking for Tickets to Go Home"

Lucky loser Vitaliy Sachko has qualified for the semifinals of the ATP 250 tournament in Metz, after getting his revenge on Clément Tabur, who had beaten him in the qualifiers.

Who will stop Sachko? The Ukrainian is having the best week of his career and has reached the semifinals of the Metz tournament. After beating Alexander Shevchenko in the qualifiers, he then failed to reach the main draw after his loss to Clément Tabur.

Ultimately reprieved as a lucky loser, he then strung together three consecutive wins against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (7-6, 6-3), Alexander Bublik (7-5, 3-6, 7-5), and Clément Tabur (6-4, 3-6, 6-4), in a match where he got his revenge for the qualifiers.

Currently ranked 163rd in the world, he is approaching his best ranking (156th) at 28 years old, before facing Learner Tien for a spot in the final. Sachko reacted to his great week after the match against the Frenchman.

"I've beaten a lot of strong players, and it's an incredible feeling. Honestly, I wasn't expecting it. After my loss in the qualifiers, I was already looking for tickets to go home.

Then I learned there was a chance to get into the main draw, and I simply decided to go on court and have fun. I played against Mpetshi Perricard on the center court, the atmosphere was incredible. I just tried to enjoy every second on the court and I'm still doing that now.

I love it when there's a crowd, when something is happening in the stands. Usually, I play in Challenger circuit tournaments, where the stands are only full from the later rounds onwards. Otherwise, there's almost no one, and you're fighting all alone.

Here, it's a completely different level, it's another planet. My goal is to participate in Grand Slam tournaments. But, for the moment, I'm trying to focus only on my game.

I'm trying to think less about different things and not overcomplicate things, I think that's the most important thing," Sachko assured for Tribuna. He is the first Ukrainian player to reach the semifinals of an ATP tournament since Dolgopolov in 2017.