Valentin Vacherot will play Ben Shelton in the third round of the Australian Open.
Vacherot won the Shanghai Masters last year in shocking fashion, coming through qualifying to beat the likes of Novak Djokovic, Holger Rune and his cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the final.
Despite being a Masters 1000 champion, Vacherot had never actually won a Grand Slam match prior to the Australian Open.
Vacherot has now become the first tennis player representing Monaco to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament, and he will now take on eighth seed Shelton.
Valentin Vacherot reveals how he really feels about playing Ben Shelton
This will be a first-time meeting between Vacherot and Shelton on the main tour, but they have played each other on the ATP Challenger circuit and as college tennis players in the USA.
Vacherot represented Texas A&M University before turning professional, and he was asked about his experience of what he remembered of Shelton from college tennis.
Shelton is one of the best servers on the ATP Tour, and Vacherot suggested that this is something that has always been the case.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m excited,” Vacherot said in his post-match press conference when asked about his match with Shelton.
“I’m really happy to play him, because he played two years college, and we had his first year in common, so he was really young. He was 17 or 18 years old, but he was already pretty impressive with his serve and everything.
“No, of course happy to play him for the first time. As I said, if I play him, it’s allowing myself to play some top-10 guys and see how I can do.”
When they played on the ATP Challenger Tour in Las Vegas, Shelton beat Vacherot, 6(4)-7 7-6(4) 6-4.
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Valentin Vacherot says if he is trying to prove he is not a one tournament wonder
With Vacherot coming out of nowhere to win the Shanghai Masters last year, there have been questions over whether he would be able to continue this form.
After achieving his best ever Grand Slam result, Vacherot was asked if it is important for him to prove that he is not a one tournament wonder.
“I mean, yeah, I’m sure so many people thought it was just the one week,” responded Vacherot. “Then even though I did well after in Paris as well, it was probably just about my confidence of the moment, so I’m just happy to win as many matches as I can. If some people were wondering if I had the level, maybe they have more answers, but me, I don’t look much at social media and everything.
“So I don’t read about that. I don’t know if there’s some story going around. I just play tennis and try to play as good this season and every tournament. We’ll see. We do the counts at the end.”
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Vacherot was predicted to make a top 20 debut this year, and he is already confirmed to reach a career-high ranking after reaching the third round of the Australian Open.
The 27-year-old could move very close towards that top 20 goal if he beats Shelton, when they play their match on Saturday, January 24.
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