Vacherot beats Rune again as Fils retires against Fritz in Basel

Vacherot does it to Rune again

Valentin Vacherot is into the semi-finals of the Swiss Indoors. On Friday in Basel, the Monegasque beat Holger Rune 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. It was the second time in just over a year that he has stopped the Dane in a tour-level quarter-final. Vacherot will now play sixth seed Taylor Fritz. The American went through earlier in the day when second seed Arthur Fils retired trailing 6-2, 2-0.

Vacherot broke at 4-2 in the opening set and served it out 6-3. Rune hit back in the second, breaking early and playing aggressively from the baseline to level the match. In the decider it was 2-2 when Vacherot pulled away. He made the most of a run of errors from the Dane, broke twice in a row to lead 5-2 and then closed it out 6-3.

The win carries echoes of October 2025. Back then, Vacherot was ranked outside the top 200 when he beat Rune in the Shanghai quarter-finals. He went on to win the Masters 1000 title. This time Rune was not the favourite in the usual sense. The Dane is playing only his fourth tour-level event since an Achilles injury kept him out for 11 months. His week in Basel still showed his class. He survived 32 aces from Quentin Halys in the first round and saved a match point against Hubert Hurkacz in the last 16.

Fils stops after one set

The day's other quarter-final ended early. Fritz dominated the first set and took it 6-2. After two more games the Frenchman retired, with the American leading 2-0 in the second. No reason for the retirement had been confirmed at the time of writing.

The timing is bad for Fils. He was seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, inside the eight qualifying places for the Nitto ATP Finals. With his win over Alex Michelsen on Thursday he had equalled his career best of 38 tour-level wins in a season. The Paris Masters begins on Monday and is the last big chance to collect points before Turin. His fitness now becomes the main question for French tennis heading into that week.

Fils edges Michelsen as Vacherot dents Jódar's Turin bid in Basel

Fritz has had a much smoother week. He beat Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-3 in the last 16 and has now reached the last four without dropping a set. That matters for him as well. The live Race standings had him outside the qualifying positions going into Friday, so every match in Basel counts.

A rematch from 2025

Fritz and Vacherot met in Basel 12 months ago. In the first round that year, Fritz came from a set down to win 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-5 less than two weeks after the Monegasque's Shanghai title. Vacherot has already knocked out Rafael Jódar this week. He beat the Spaniard, who sits ninth in the Race, 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(5).

Saturday's semi-final at the Swiss Indoors Basel gives Vacherot a chance to reach the final of an ATP 500 event. Fritz, meanwhile, can make up more ground in the Turin race. The title will be decided on Sunday.