The Italian reached the final of the clay court tournament last year and that meant he had 680 ranking points to defend.
After an injury-disrupted start to the season, Musetti faced an uphill battle to match his run to last year’s final, and he didn’t get close.
The player who enjoyed a stunning breakthrough when he won his first ATP Masters 1000 event in China at the back end of last season arrived at the Monte Carlo Masters with high hopes of continuing his remarkable rise up the tennis ladder on home soil.
In what was a match of fluctuating fortunes, Vacherot served for the match at 5-4 in the second set and was broken. He didn’t make the same mistake when he served for the match once again at 6-5, with his joy as he knocked out the world No 5.
Musetti will now slide down to No 9 in the updated rankings and he will need to raise his levels to ensure he doesn’t suffer an even more damaging slide by the end of the clay court season.
“The emotions went [up and] down a bit,” said Vacherot.
“If someone told me that my first top five win, second after Shanghai, will be here on a night session on the centre court I have been hitting on since I was six years old, it’s nothing, nothing can be done.”
elsewhere, Sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime rolled over Marin Cilic 7-6(4), 6-3, while clay court specialist and ninth seed Casper Ruud esed past Corentin Moutet 7-5, 6-3.
