SHANGHAI – Former Texas A&M All-America tennis player Arthur Rinderknech extended his deepest run in an ATP 1000 tournament after defeating 12th seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in straight-sets, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the Rolex Shanghai Masters semifinals early Friday morning.
During his standout career in Aggieland, Rinderknech was a five-time All-American, which is the second-most in Aggie history, just behind Texas A&M Hall of Famer Austin Krajicek with six. Rinderknech was the first Aggie to become a three-time All-American in singles. During his senior year, Rinderknech clinched the Maroon & White’s deepest run in the NCAA Tournament. With a spot in the NCAA semifinals on the line, Rinderknech’s epic 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 win at court two clinched the historic 4-3 victory over the Florida Gators.
The Frenchman has had three-consecutive top-20 wins in Shanghai to reach the semifinals with triumphs over No. 3 Alexander Zverev, No. 19 Jiri Lehecka and No. 13 Auger-Aliassime. In his 10 most recent top-20 matchups, Rinderknech has won seven.
The semifinal draw is half made up of former Texas A&M stars with Rinderknech and his cousin Valentin Vacherot, who also advanced after taking down the 10 seed yesterday.
“It is huge. First of all, I followed my cousin,” Rinderknech told ATPTour.com. “He was going through the emotions on Thursday, and I am trying to follow and battle and do the same as him. It has been incredible since the start of the tournament.”
Head coach Steve Denton also spoke to ATPTour.com to share his thoughts on this historic performance by his former players, “As their college coach I couldn’t be more proud of these two. It’s been a dream week for both of them, and it is a testament of what college tennis can do to young players if they are all-in and trust the process of just trying to improve. Clearly they are feeding off each other’s energy, and you can really see the joy they are playing with, much like they did when they were at Texas A&M. I have always believed in both of them that they will eventually put it together. Isn’t it ironic that they have done it during the same week?”
For the semifinals on Saturday, Vacherot faces 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic at *3:30 a.m while Rinderknech faces 16th seeded Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals at *6 a.m. (*Match will not begin before).
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