By Shrivathsa Sridhar
MELBOURNE, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Valentin Vacherot showed his maiden ATP Masters triumph last year was a genuine breakthrough rather than a flash in the pan, after becoming the first
player from Monaco to reach the third round of a Grand Slam at the Australian Open on Thursday.
The 27-year-old was catapulted into the limelight at the Shanghai Masters in October when he beat his cousin, Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, to win his first ATP title and break into the top 40 from outside 200 in the world rankings.
Vacherot, who backed up his victory over Rinderknech by beating him again en route to the Paris Masters quarter-finals, continued his fine form in the new season by reaching the third round in Melbourne by downing Rinky Hijikata 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-2.
"I'm trying to be the first for everything these days, but no, it's great. I have a lot of pride behind me, the country," Monegasque trailblazer Vacherot told reporters.
"I know a lot of people follow me back home. A lot of them stayed awake (to watch), I'm really glad about that. I'm happy to have won for them.
"Yeah, I don't really look at all this, but of course, in the back of my head, there's a little pride."
Vacherot said he was sure many people would have viewed him as a short-term sensation after his run in Shanghai and Paris.
"If some people were wondering if I had the level, maybe they have more answers," he said.
"I don't look much at social media. I don't read about that.
"I just play tennis and try to play as good this season and every tournament. We'll see. We do the counts at the end."
World number 31 Vacherot plays American eighth seed Ben Shelton next, and he said he was relishing the opportunity to meet a top-10 player, one who came through the U.S. college circuit like him.
"I'm excited. I'm really happy to play him, because he played two years college, and we had his first year in common, so he was really young," Vacherot said.
"He was 17 or 18, but already pretty impressive with his serve ... it allows me to play some top-10 guys and see how I can do."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Melbourne; Editing by Tom Hogue)
