After seven clean holds to start the second set, Vacherot made his move. Rinderknech saved the first break point he faced with an ace out wide, but after the Monegasque denied him a game point with a stella return, Vacherot produced the loudest winner of the night with a backhand down the line to turn the tide for 5-3. A hold at 15 sent the match into a decider.
Rinderknech immediately fell behind 0-40, and on his third chance to strike, Vacherot curled a sublime backhand pass to seize the break. The 30-year-old avoided falling behind a double break in his next two service games, masterfully saving a combined seven break points.
He couldn’t make any dent on return, though, as Vacherot won his first 15 points at the line in the final set. At 3-5, Vacherot delivered a pair of blows to open 0-30 and secured the storybook ending on his second championship point with one final forehand winner. The two cousins shared a lengthy embrace, before Vacherot soaked up his winning moment.
“Tried to be the guy on the other side of the net. Tried to put it on the side that it’s my cousin, the guy that I’ve been training (and) growing up with. It was really tough,” Vacherot said.
“He did a better job than me in the first set with cooperating with the pressure and everything, he played way better than me. Just found a way to turn that around and then make the match a little bit (about) myself at the end.”
