{"id":193657,"date":"2025-10-11T21:54:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T21:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/193657\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T21:54:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T21:54:14","slug":"world-no-204-valentin-vacherot-downs-novak-djokovic-to-set-up-shanghai-masters-final-against-cousin-arthur-rinderknech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/193657\/","title":{"rendered":"World No 204 Valentin Vacherot downs Novak Djokovic to set up Shanghai Masters final against cousin Arthur Rinderknech"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The world No 204 Valentin Vacherot stunned Novak Djokovic<\/a> to reach the Shanghai Masters final \u2013 where he will play his own cousin, Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old Vacherot, from Monaco, triumphed 6-3, 6-4 to knock out Djokovic and record the result of his career so far, extending a remarkable run in China.<\/p>\n

Rinderknech was next on court against Daniil Medvedev.<\/a> Vacherot signed a camera with \u201callez Arthur\u201d as he departed, before the French 30-year-old triumphed over his Russian opponent 6-4, 2-6, 4-6.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t even say it\u2019s a dream because I don\u2019t think even one person in our family dreamt about it,\u201d Rinderknech said. \u201cWe started believing it in the quarters, maybe. Now we are here, we fought through so many matches and somehow we are both guys standing at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Arthur<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Arthur Rinderknech reacts to his semi-final victory over Russia’s Daniil Medvedev (Reuters)\"Rinderknech<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Rinderknech celebrates after booking his place in the final (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Vacherot\u2019s journey to the final has been extraordinary after spending half the season out injured. \u201cI didn\u2019t even come as a qualifier, I came as an alternate,\u201d he explained this week. \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure to even play the qualifier. Coming back from six months out is always not easy. You cannot just come back and win tournaments right and left. You\u2019ve just got to fight your way through a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

He beat the 10th seed, Holger Rune, 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 in the quarter-finals to become the second-lowest ranked player to reach the last four of an ATP Masters event. And he swiftly dispatched an out-of-sorts Djokovic to book his place in the final.<\/p>\n

Djokovic had said he was \u201cjust trying to stay alive on the court\u201d after his quarter-final, played out in brutally hot conditions<\/a> in Shanghai, and the 24-time grand slam champion required treatment during his straight-sets defeat by Vacherot.<\/p>\n

\"Djokovic<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Djokovic is treated by a physio during the semi-final (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

But Djokovic was magnanimous in defeat, saying to his opponent at the net: \u201cYou deserve it, you played unbelievable. Keep it going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vacherot responded: \u201cThank you very much. It is such a pleasure to play at least once against you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He later told TennisTV: \u201cThis is just crazy. I mean, crazy is a good word. To just be on the other side of a court was an already an unbelieable experience, I\u2019ve got so much to learn from this match, from him, and even from myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an hour and 40 of pure joy, even though not many [fans] wanted me to keep going! He\u2019s really, really appreciated here, he\u2019s won four times here. But it\u2019s an unreal experience. Now I am going to enjoy the win tonight and think about the final tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vacherot will now play against his older cousin Rinderknech in a family affair. The pair have been nervously watching each other\u2019s matches from the stands, cheering each other through the rounds, yet they will duel for the biggest win of their lives.<\/p>\n

Rinderknech said after the quarter-finals: \u201cI was stressing so much during the whole match, I\u2019m not used to watching guys playing on court and wanting him to win so much. I was trying not to show anything. Today was a lot more calm for me on court.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going through the emotions and I\u2019m trying to battle to follow and do as good as him. He\u2019s been incredible since the beginning of the week and the whole family is following from home. We are in a little world here of our own. It\u2019s been incredible, it\u2019s been unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both cousins will jump up the world rankings after their exploits in Shanghai, whoever lifts the trophy. Rinderknech is set to climb into the top 30 for the first time in his career, while Vacherot will break into the top 100.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-193657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}