Vacherot beats his cousin
Rinderknech to win Shanghai Masters after coming through qualifying
rounds
[October 13, 2025]
SHANGHAI (AP) — Valentin Vacherot beat his cousin Arthur Rinderknech
4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday to win the Shanghai Masters for the first
title of his career after a stunning run from the qualifying rounds.
The 204th-ranked Vacherot, an unheralded 26-year-old, was the
lowest-ranked tournament winner in ATP Masters 1000 history — and
the first from the tiny Principality of Monaco.
“Just crying, it’s just isn’t real what just happened. I’ve no idea
what’s happening right now,” Vacherot said moments after victory. “I
think there are two winners today and just one family that won. I
think for the sport of tennis this story’s just unreal.”
It was quite a performance, too.
He stunned 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the
semifinals to set up a final against the 30-year-old Rinderknech,
who had downed four-time major finalist Daniil Medvedev, the 2021
U.S. Open champion, in a remarkable semifinal of his own.
Before toppling Djokovic — owner of 100 career titles and among the
greatest men's players ever — Vacherot also beat tenth-seeded Holger
Rune in the quarterfinals.
“It's only my fourth season on the tour. I think of all the work
I've done,” Vacherot said. “To win today is completely crazy, I just
can't believe it."

He produced a serving masterclass in the third set, with three
straight love holds and 15 consecutive points before finally losing
a point in the eighth game with an unforced error.
Serving to stay in the match at 15-40 down, Rinderknech saved one
match point but Vacherot wrong-footed him with yet another
blistering forehand winner down the line to clinch victory.
He held his face in his hands in disbelief before walking to the net
to hug his cousin and then rushing to his team box to share a long
hug with coach Benjamin Balleret, who is his half-brother and is a
former tennis player from Monaco.
Balleret's career highlight was a defeat to tennis great Roger
Federer in the early rounds of the Monte Carlo Masters in 2006.
Nineteen years later, Federer was in the Shanghai crowd watching as
Rinderknech clinched the first set with an ace.
[to top of second column] |

Winner Valentin Vacherot of Monaco, right, and Arthur Rinderknech of
France, embrace on the winners podium after the final of the
Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City
Tennis Ce2025nter, in Shanghai, China, Sunday, Oct. 12, . (AP
Photo/Andy Wong)

Balleret and Federer shook hands before Vacherot
grabbed a red-and-white Monaco flag and displayed it on court. Then
he wrote “Grandma and Grandpa would be proud” on a courtside camera.
“I tried to put it to one side that it’s my cousin, the guy that
I’ve been growing up with,” Vacherot said. “In the first set I
didn’t bring my ‘A’ game and Arthur was playing better than me.”
Monaco's biggest sporting star is Fomula 1 driver Charles Leclerc,
who has won eight races among his 48 podiums.
Vacherot will shoot up the rankings and inside the Top 50 on Monday.
He secured an early break in the decider and then missed four
break-point chances in the fifth game as Rinderknech got a reprieve.
The Frenchman immediately took a three-minute medical timeout for
massage treatment on his back and then his left shoulder.
But there was nothing he could do to stop his cousin's momentum.
Rinderknech appeared troubled by heavy cramps and — after giving his
runner-up speech — had to sit down as his cousin addressed the
crowd.
They never played each other before on the professional tour, with
Rinderknech winning their only meeting at a Futures tournament in
2018.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |