Valentin Vacherot out to avenge Montreal defeat as he faces Mariano Navone in Basel
Match News & Form
Valentin Vacherot can breathe a sigh of relief after clearing the biggest hurdle of his season at the Shanghai Masters, where he had a title to defend. The excellent work he has done this year amid his fitness problems, including a semi-final run in Tokyo the week before Shanghai, means his early exit there has barely dented his ranking, and he still holds a strong No. 32 position. His next big test comes at the Paris Masters, where he has quarterfinal points to defend, and he will be looking to ease that pressure with a strong result in Basel this week, a tournament where he fell in the first round last year.
Mariano Navone ended a three-match losing streak with a strong week at the start of the indoor hard-court swing in Brussels. He battled to a straight-sets win over Juan Manuel Cerundolo before pushing eventual champion Tallon Griekspoor all the way in a 7-6, 7-5 second-round defeat. It already counts as a successful indoor swing for the Argentine, whose career record on the surface stood at 1-4 before this month, with all five of those matches coming in 2024.
Head-to-Head
The head-to-head is tied at 1-1, with both previous meetings coming on hard courts this year. Valentin Vacherot won the first one comfortably in Miami, before Mariano Navone capitalised on the Monegasque’s lack of fitness to outlast him in Montreal.
Stats & Facts
Valentin Vacherot holds a poor 10-18 career record on indoor hard courts.
Vacherot’s only indoor tournament this year came in Lyon last week, where he lost in the opening round.
This marks Mariano Navone’s first-ever appearance at ATP Basel.
Navone is 12-14 against top-50 players this year.
Betting Analysis
Mariano Navone outlasted Valentin Vacherot in a tough three-set battle at the Montreal Masters just a couple of months ago. However, Vacherot has improved his physical condition since that defeat, and the indoor conditions here should also be far kinder to him than what he experienced in Montreal. Those factors should be enough for Vacherot to reverse the result and beat the Argentine.