ATP Basel: Fritz narrowly overturns new Masters champion Vachero in first round

On October 22, 2025, the ATP 500 Basel tournament continued with the men's singles first round, featuring a key match between top seed Fritz and the newly crowned Shanghai Rolex Masters singles champion Vachero. Since Vachero’s ranking was still relatively low at the entry deadline, he entered this event with a wildcard.

Photo of Fritz

In their career head-to-head, Vachero maintained his strong form from Shanghai in the first set, capitalizing on Fritz’s lapses late in the set to secure a crucial break and take it 6-4. In the second set, Fritz showed the resilience expected of a top-five player, breaking to lead 5-3; however, he then squandered four set points on Vachero’s serve and was broken back in his own service game. The set went to a tiebreak, where Fritz finally converted his eighth set point to win 7-6(4), leveling the match. In the deciding set, the battle remained tight until 5-5, when Fritz broke Vachero’s must-hold serve to clinch the set 7-5 and claim the match victory.

In the second round, Fritz will face French player Humbert, who advanced by defeating Korda 6-3, 6-4 in the first round. In other matches, fourth seed Ruud defeated lucky loser Aris 6-1, 7-6(3), and fifth seed Alcaraz beat compatriot Diallo 6-2, 7-5, both progressing smoothly. Sixth seed Lehecka suffered an upset, losing 2-6, 2-6 to lucky loser Vanderschulp and exiting in the first round.

In an early second-round match, eighth seed Davidovich Fokina battled through three sets, overcoming Brooksby 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals first. Seventh seed Menchik withdrew before the match, granting Brazilian rising star Fonseca a walkover into the quarterfinals.

(Text and editing: Dato; Photo: Visual China)