ATP 250 Lyon: Too imprecise, Valentin Vacherot loses in the first round against Luca Van Assche

Beaten 10 days earlier by American Tommy Paul in the 3rd round of the Shanghai Masters 1000, Valentin Vacherot wanted to restart a positive momentum in Lyon. Facing young French player Luca Van Assche, the Monegasque player multiplied direct faults and exits in the first round (2/6–6/4–6/4).

Facing French player Luca Van Assche (48th in the world) in the first round of the ATP 250 in Lyon, Valentin Vacherot needed to regain confidence so as not to lose everything at the end of the season.

After a brilliant end to 2025, with a victory at the Shanghai Masters 1000, the Monegasque player had to be flawless a year later or risk dropping in the ATP rankings. But the title defense operation did not go as planned last week in Shanghai. Soundly defeated in the third round by Tommy Paul (15th in the world), Valentin Vacherot did not mince his words in the press conference when assessing his performance: “I played like shit. I felt I wasn’t at my best, especially physically. This is probably one of the worst matches of my season, unfortunately it happened here in Shanghai”.

The player from the Rock made 27 unforced errors in the match and dropped from 14th to 32nd place in the ATP rankings after this defeat. No choice for the Monegasque player, he had to beat young Luca Van Assche to regain momentum. A tricky match when you know the style of the Frenchman: a small frame with an incredible court coverage that always makes you play one more shot.

Too many errors to hope for a result

One statistic alone sums up this encounter: 49 unforced errors. With such a large number of gifts from Valentin Vacherot, it’s hard to hope for a positive result.

Yet, everything started well for the Monegasque player. With seven aces in the first set and 89% first serve, it was a Valentin Vacherot in hurried mode who took to the central court in Lyon.

Same story on return of serve, an area in which the Monegasque player quickly took the upper hand over his opponent. Aggressive, we saw him shorten rallies at the net repeatedly to prevent Van Assche’s false rhythm from settling in. Result, two breaks and the first set wrapped up 6-2 in 40 minutes.

It was later in the match that things fell apart. Six unforced errors on his first service game, a break conceded right away, Valentin Vacherot did everything backwards in this second set. He seemed tense, on his forehand as well as his backhand, sometimes even a bit careless, sluggish in his movement. In total we counted 21 unforced errors in this set. Much too many to hope for anything. The Van Assche trap was working perfectly, making the Monegasque player play until he cracks. Down 5-2, Valentin Vacherot still had a moment of pride at the end of the set but lost 6-4. One set each, and worry was visibly growing in the Azuréen’s camp.

Still sloppy in the deciding set

Cornered right away by a determined Luca Van Assche, Valentin Vacherot conceded the break very early in this third set. Despite a slight comeback at the end of the match, it was indeed the Frenchman who prevailed, much more consistent than the Monegasque player. The last game is typical of the match, contested rallies, sometimes very long, but which always end with the same sequence: Valentin Vacherot who cracks. Final score: 2/6 – 6/4 – 6/4

Luca Van Assche’s performance deserves to be noted, with two aces in the last service game, he never gave Valentin Vacherot any hope, rolling out his game plan masterfully from the second set onwards.

Unless there’s a surprise, Valentin Vacherot should be present at the Rolex Paris Masters next week. He will need to regain technical accuracy to hope to remain among the seeded players in Australia next year.