Pune: Adam Walton won more points, got crowd support, and made lesser mistakes.
However, he couldn’t lift the winner’s trophy.
The third-seed Australian, who was in line to win a double crown after lifting the doubles trophy a day before, lost 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (5) to Monaco’s fourth seeded Valentin Vacherot in the final of the $130,000 PMRDA Maha Open ATP Challenger men’s tennis event at the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi on Sunday.
This is Vacherot’s third Challenger title after he won two successive tournaments in Thailand in January.
Walton won 116 points, compared to Vacherot’s 110.
Vacherot started the match by breaking Walton in the first game of the opening set. The Australian’s biggest weakness, his poor first-serve conversions, was spotted early by Vacherot as he returned the slow second serves successfully to go 1-0 up.
Vacherot on the contrary had better serves. His 13 aces against Walton’s 7 gave the Monaco player more confidence. However, unlike his Aussie opponent, Vacherot lacked consistency.
Vacherot won crucial points early in the set, however, Walton was more accurate with his shots. And that helped him break to level 3-3. His shots from baseline and net-play troubled Vacherot as Walton went up 5-3 with another break. The Aussie then held his serve to take the first set.
In the second set again, Vacherot broke Walton early, this time in the second game, to go 3-0 up. But Vacherot’s erratic shot-making and his choice of allowing Walton play closer to the net backfired and allowed his opponent to hold his serves. Walton’s efforts paid off as he broke the Monegasque back for 4-5 and sent the set to a tiebreaker.
What proved to Vacherot’s undoing in the set play helped him win points in the tiebreaker as the World No. 173 used his aces as his weapon to clinch the set.
The roller-coaster ride went on loop in the deciding set, as Vacherot went 3-2 up by breaking Walton. He soon made it 5-3 but only to get broken and face another tiebreaker.
However, Vacherot held his nerve in the climax and claimed his third Challenger title.
Monegasque finds his feet & serve via college route
For someone standing 6’ 4’’, Valentin Vacherot doesn’t need to take a big leap to get his serve going. But the French-Monegasque does it anyway.
The result is a picture that encapsulates the sheer physicality of the sport and one of the most beasty serves on the men’s tour. “I jump pretty high. But what’s funny is that I don’t feel like I jump high. I don’t even know. Sometimes I’m asking, like, ‘am I jumping high enough”,” the 25-year-old said.
Vacherot, who plays in the Davis Cup team competition for his country of birth Monaco, said he developed his serving style while playing college tennis in the US for Texas A & M university. “I really learned how to work hard in the gym and everything. In America they are like that. I think we were working in a really good way for myself, for how my game is and everything. And it really paid off on my serve,” said Vacherot.
“And I’m probably one of the guys jumping the highest on the tour. So it’s just something that I developed without even thinking. ‘Thank you’ to all of my fitness coaches.”
Tennis runs in Vacherot’s veins. His mother was a coach while he is trained by his half-brother Benjamin Balleret, who was a former player ranked in the top-200. He also has a cousin and nephew who have played tennis.
Yet, Vacherot didn’t turn professional right after juniors.
He said more and more players preferred to take the college route to the tour.
“I realized that towards my last few years (in juniors) and even more now, because there’s many more players coming out of college in the top-100 now.
“I wasn’t close at all to be top-10 in juniors. I wasn’t match ready at all to go play professional. I didn’t know what it was to really be a professional tennis player and I learned all that in college. I got a degree, and I had fun for five years. And so that got me ready for the tour.”
However, he couldn’t lift the winner’s trophy.
The third-seed Australian, who was in line to win a double crown after lifting the doubles trophy a day before, lost 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (5) to Monaco’s fourth seeded Valentin Vacherot in the final of the $130,000 PMRDA Maha Open ATP Challenger men’s tennis event at the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi on Sunday.
This is Vacherot’s third Challenger title after he won two successive tournaments in Thailand in January.
Walton won 116 points, compared to Vacherot’s 110.
Vacherot started the match by breaking Walton in the first game of the opening set. The Australian’s biggest weakness, his poor first-serve conversions, was spotted early by Vacherot as he returned the slow second serves successfully to go 1-0 up.
Vacherot on the contrary had better serves. His 13 aces against Walton’s 7 gave the Monaco player more confidence. However, unlike his Aussie opponent, Vacherot lacked consistency.
Vacherot won crucial points early in the set, however, Walton was more accurate with his shots. And that helped him break to level 3-3. His shots from baseline and net-play troubled Vacherot as Walton went up 5-3 with another break. The Aussie then held his serve to take the first set.
In the second set again, Vacherot broke Walton early, this time in the second game, to go 3-0 up. But Vacherot’s erratic shot-making and his choice of allowing Walton play closer to the net backfired and allowed his opponent to hold his serves. Walton’s efforts paid off as he broke the Monegasque back for 4-5 and sent the set to a tiebreaker.
What proved to Vacherot’s undoing in the set play helped him win points in the tiebreaker as the World No. 173 used his aces as his weapon to clinch the set.
The roller-coaster ride went on loop in the deciding set, as Vacherot went 3-2 up by breaking Walton. He soon made it 5-3 but only to get broken and face another tiebreaker.
However, Vacherot held his nerve in the climax and claimed his third Challenger title.
Monegasque finds his feet & serve via college route
For someone standing 6’ 4’’, Valentin Vacherot doesn’t need to take a big leap to get his serve going. But the French-Monegasque does it anyway.
The result is a picture that encapsulates the sheer physicality of the sport and one of the most beasty serves on the men’s tour. “I jump pretty high. But what’s funny is that I don’t feel like I jump high. I don’t even know. Sometimes I’m asking, like, ‘am I jumping high enough”,” the 25-year-old said.
Vacherot, who plays in the Davis Cup team competition for his country of birth Monaco, said he developed his serving style while playing college tennis in the US for Texas A & M university. “I really learned how to work hard in the gym and everything. In America they are like that. I think we were working in a really good way for myself, for how my game is and everything. And it really paid off on my serve,” said Vacherot.
“And I’m probably one of the guys jumping the highest on the tour. So it’s just something that I developed without even thinking. ‘Thank you’ to all of my fitness coaches.”
Tennis runs in Vacherot’s veins. His mother was a coach while he is trained by his half-brother Benjamin Balleret, who was a former player ranked in the top-200. He also has a cousin and nephew who have played tennis.
Yet, Vacherot didn’t turn professional right after juniors.
He said more and more players preferred to take the college route to the tour.
“I realized that towards my last few years (in juniors) and even more now, because there’s many more players coming out of college in the top-100 now.
“I wasn’t close at all to be top-10 in juniors. I wasn’t match ready at all to go play professional. I didn’t know what it was to really be a professional tennis player and I learned all that in college. I got a degree, and I had fun for five years. And so that got me ready for the tour.”