Valentin Vachier-Lagrave from Monaco, ranked 204th in the world, continued his adventure at the Shanghai Masters 1000 tennis tournament by reaching the semifinals after defeating Denmark’s Holger Rune, ranked 11th, yesterday. This marks his first career semifinal appearance where he will face Serbian Novak Djokovic, ranked fifth.

The 26-year-old qualifier Vachier-Lagrave beat Rune 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 and will enter the top 100 in the ATP rankings for the first time next Monday.

Previously, Vachier-Lagrave had never ranked higher than 110th worldwide.

He expressed his amazement after the match, saying “It’s unbelievable,” noting that his ranking did not even guarantee him a spot in the qualifiers upon arriving in Shanghai.

Vachier-Lagrave secured his place in the main draw after winning two qualifying matches, achieving his seventh consecutive win under Shanghai’s intense heat, becoming the first player from Monaco to reach a professional ATP tournament semifinal.

In the next round, Vachier-Lagrave will face Djokovic, a former world No. 1 and four-time winner of the Chinese tournament.

Djokovic, who has won 24 Grand Slam titles, defeated Belgium’s Zizou Bergs, ranked 44th, 6-3, 7-5, who was playing in his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal yesterday.

Djokovic will play in the semifinals of a Masters 1000 event for the 80th time in his career, a record, and is now the favorite to win the title following the withdrawal of world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz before the tournament and second seed Italian Jannik Sinner in the second round.

Watching was his French cousin Arthur Rinderknech, ranked 54th, who will play the quarterfinal against Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, ranked 13th, today. Vachier-Lagrave responded strongly after losing the first set 2-6 to Rune, having lost his serve twice in the third and seventh games in 44 minutes.

He turned a 1-3 deficit in the second set into a 7-6 (7-4) win in 1 hour and 25 minutes, then won the decisive third set 6-4 in 50 minutes after breaking the Dane’s serve in the seventh game.

Vachier-Lagrave broke down in tears after the win, saying “In the first set, I was physically very affected. The level of the match was higher than usual, I admired the way Rune defended.”

The winner, the lowest-ranked player to reach a Masters 1000 semifinal since 1999, added, “After the first set, I went off court to change my clothes, and that helped me play more freely.”