Vacherot after his historic victory in Monte-Carlo: "Something in my head told me it would be my day"

By defeating Struff (6-2, 6-2), Valentin Vacherot secured his first ATP win at the age of 26. Invited by the organizers, the world No. 259 became the first Monegasque player to triumph here since 2009. He now joins Jean-René Lisnard (2006, 2009) and Benjamin Balleret (2006).

"Before a match, it’s always hard to expect anything. You never know what’s going to happen. But I felt really good. I’ve been playing well, especially these past few weeks.

So there was something in my head telling me it would be my day. Of course, I couldn’t have hoped to win in 58 minutes against a player like him."

"There were a lot of emotions. Maybe the most emotional moment was when I walked onto the court. I didn’t know there would be so many people. It’s Sunday, the first day, so I never thought there would be so many spectators, especially for me.

Of course, I won’t always win with such a score against top players, but today, everything went well. At the end, I wanted to stay on the court with the crowd for a whole hour."

Vacherot will face the winner of the match between Dimitrov and Jarry.