{"id":599417,"date":"2026-04-12T16:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T16:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/599417\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T16:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T16:10:16","slug":"carlos-alcaraz-ends-valentin-vacherots-dream-run-will-face-jannik-sinner-in-monte-carlo-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/599417\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Alcaraz ends Valentin Vacherot\u2019s dream run, will face Jannik Sinner in Monte Carlo final"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Carlos Alcaraz plays a backhand return to Valentin Vacherot during his semi-final victory at the Monte Carlo Masters on Saturday.THIBAUD MORITZ\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Defending champion and top seed Carlos Alcaraz beat Valentin Vacherot 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday to end the Monegasque\u2019s fairytale run at the Monte Carlo Masters and set up a blockbuster final against Jannik Sinner.<\/p>\n

Vacherot, who also enjoyed a breakthrough run at the Shanghai Masters in October, knocked out Lorenzo Musetti, Hubert Hurkacz and Alex de Minaur on his way to the Monte Carlo semi-finals. The 27-year-old was the first Monegasque player to reach the last four in the Principality.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz struck first in the opening set, breaking serve to move 2-1 ahead before sealing the set with an ace.<\/p>\n

Just as the seven-time Grand Slam champion appeared to be cruising, Vacherot mounted a spirited fightback and edged ahead 4-3 in the second set. Alcaraz, however, proved too strong, winning three successive games to seal victory.<\/p>\n

With the win, Alcaraz became only the third player to reach 10 ATP 1000 finals before the age of 23, joining Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic since the format began in 1990.<\/p>\n

With the world No. 1 ranking on the line, Alcaraz said he was excited about facing Sinner for the first time this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s the dream spot for everyone,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cI\u2019m fighting for my second Monte Carlo title. Jannik\u2019s fighting for his first one. It\u2019s going to be a really special one. The world number one is on the line. That makes tomorrow even more special.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really happy to win this really difficult match against Valentin. He\u2019s playing great tennis with a lot of confidence right now. Playing in his hometown, it was really tough to deal with.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I\u2019m really excited about my first meeting with Jannik this year, first final. Let\u2019s see how it\u2019s going to be tomorrow. I\u2019m excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Jannik Sinner sizes up a shot during his win over Alexander Zverev on Saturday.Manon Cruz\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Four-time major winner Sinner dispatched German third seed Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-4 in the first semi-final.<\/p>\n

Meeting Zverev for a fourth consecutive Masters 1000 semi-final, the Italian produced a near-flawless opening set, racing to a double-break lead before sealing it with a backhand winner.<\/p>\n

The second set proved a tighter affair. With the score level at 4-4, Sinner pulled away, breaking Zverev\u2019s serve before closing it out 6-4. The victory extended Sinner\u2019s head-to-head record against Zverev to nine wins and four losses.<\/p>\n

Sinner, who won the Indian Wells Masters and Miami Open titles last month, became only the fourth player to reach the finals at Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo in the same season, after Roger Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very, very happy,\u201d Sinner said. \u201cWe came here trying to give myself some feedback. Now finding myself in the final means a lot to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery match, every day is different. I\u2019m very happy about today\u2019s performance. I felt really solid from the beginning. When you\u2019re a break up straight away, it changes the dynamic of the match. Let\u2019s see what\u2019s coming in the final.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Carlos Alcaraz plays a backhand return to Valentin Vacherot during his semi-final victory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,593,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-599417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-tennis","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}