From qualifiers to glory… Vacherot triumphs in Shanghai over his cousin Rinderknech

Valentin Vacherot from Monaco, ranked 204th in the world and a qualifier, won the Shanghai Masters 1000 title by defeating his French cousin Arthur Rinderknech, ranked 54th, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday in the final.

At 26 years old, Vacherot became the lowest-ranked player ever to win a Masters 1000 event, surpassing Croatian Borna Ćorić who won the Cincinnati Masters in 2022 while ranked 152nd.

Vacherot, who will enter the top 40 in the world rankings on Monday, secured his ninth consecutive win at the Shanghai tournament in front of tennis legend Roger Federer, becoming the first player from Monaco to win a professional ATP Tour event.

He continued his remarkable run by defeating Serbian Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, denying Djokovic a chance to win his fifth Shanghai title, and this final marked the third Masters 1000 final between two unseeded players in history.

On the other hand, 30-year-old Rinderknech achieved his best Masters 1000 run and will rise to 28th in the world rankings, making him the second French player after Hugo Humbert to reach a Masters 1000 final (scheduled for November 2024 in Paris).

However, Rinderknech will not join Guy Forget, Cédric Pioline, Sébastien Grosjean, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the list of French Masters 1000 champions, with Tsonga last winning in Canada in 2014.

Rinderknech took the first set advantage by breaking his cousin’s serve in the third game to lead 2-1 and closed it 6-4 in 41 minutes, but Vacherot responded in the eighth game of the second set to lead 5-3 and won it 6-3 in 39 minutes.

Vacherot maintained his dominance by breaking Rinderknech’s serve early in the decisive third set to lead 1-0 then 2-0, and broke again in the ninth game to seal the set 6-3 in 54 minutes.