Fritz Set to Clash with Shanghai Champion Vacherot in Thrilling Basel Showdown
Auger-Aliassime, eyeing Turin, faces Diallo in an all-Canadian showdown
October 18, 2025
Photo by Koji Watanabe and Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
Taylor Fritz and Shanghai champion Valentin Vacherot are set for their inaugural meeting in the Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
By ATP Staff
Valentin Vacherot makes his entrance at the Swiss Indoors Basel as the newly minted ATP Masters 1000 Champion. The rising star, fresh off his victory at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, will need to hit the ground running in his debut at the indoor hard-court ATP 500 event.
Securing a wild card, Vacherot has drawn the formidable top seed Taylor Fritz for a first-round showdown in Switzerland. The Monegasque player, soaring to a career-high No. 40 in the PIF ATP Rankings following his magical Shanghai journey, is set to compete in just his seventh main draw at an ATP Tour event.
This week is pivotal for Fritz, currently sitting fifth in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin. He is in a strong position to clinch a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals. The American is projected to meet sixth-seeded Jiri Lehecka in the quarter-finals and fourth-seeded Casper Ruud in the semi-finals.
Ruud, ranked 11th in the Live Race and still hopeful of making it to Turin, will kick off his Basel title quest against a qualifier or lucky loser. Meanwhile, wild card Stan Wawrinka presents a potential second-round hurdle for the Norwegian, as Wawrinka prepares to face Miomir Kecmanovic, whom he leads 1-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
In the lower half of the draw, Fritz’s fellow contender for Turin, Ben Shelton, is set to open against a qualifier. The second-seeded American, boasting a 37-19 record in 2025 according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, reached the Basel final in 2024 but fell short to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. Currently sixth in the Live Race, Shelton hopes to regain his rhythm following a shoulder injury sustained at the US Open in late August.
Exploring the street art of Basel with Ben Ten 🎨#benshelton | #SwissIndoorsBasel pic.twitter.com/nLzDah5erc
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 18, 2025
Should he advance, Shelton might clash with fellow Turin hopeful Felix Auger-Aliassime, ranked 10th in the Live Race, in the quarter-finals. Auger-Aliassime, a two-time champion here in 2022 and 2023, will commence his campaign against compatriot Gabriel Diallo.
In another exciting first-round match, the powerful Frenchman Mpetshi Perricard will take on #NextGenATP star Joao Fonseca. This match is situated in the same quarter of the draw as third-seeded Holger Rune, who faces Marcos Giron, and seventh-seeded Jakub Mensik, who is set to play local #NextGenATP talent Henry Bernet.
