A partisan Paris Masters crowd booed Cameron Norrie before the British No.1 lost his third-round match against Valentin Vacherot. His opponent is a home favourite and was born in Southeastern France, but represents Monaco internationally.

The fans on centre court inside La Defence Arena loudly cheered whenever the Monegasque player won a point, and after going 30-0 up in the 11th game, Norrie turned around and twice lifted both arms in the air, sparking intense boos from the crowd. Vacherot ultimately won their closely contested match 7-6, 6-4 in just over an hour and a half.

There are no French players left in the ATP Masters 1000 event, with Norrie’s opponent knocking out his cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the previous round. Vacherot received a wildcard to play in Paris after winning the Shanghai Masters, where he beat his relative in the final.

Rinderknech was one of three French players in receipt of the four wildcards. Another was Terence Atmane, but he lost to Aleksandar Vukic in the first round.

In contrast, Arthur Cazaux made it to the second round by beating Luciano Darderi in straight sets. However, he was defeated by the 15th seed, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, in a similarly swift fashion. As such, Vacherot is the closest to a home player remaining in the singles draw.

Last year’s finalist and French No.1, Ugo Humbert, was scheduled to compete but withdrew due to an injury. Arthur Fils also withdrew from the tournament, having previously pulled out of the US Open last month.

A French player has not won the Paris Masters since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2008. He also made the final in 2011, losing to Roger Federer, with Gael Monfils being beaten to the title during the intervening years, first by Novak Djokovic and then Robin Soderling.

Norrie was the last British player standing after Jacob Fearnley, who came through qualifying, lost in straight sets to Andrey Rublev in the first round. British number one Jack Draper could not compete due to an arm injury.

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