SHANGHAI (AP) — Valentin Vachereau beat his cousin Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday to win the Shanghai Masters and claim his first career title after a stunning performance in the qualifying rounds.
The 204th-ranked Vachereau, an unknown 26-year-old, was the lowest-ranked winner in ATP Masters 1000 history – and the first from the tiny principality of Monaco.
This was also a real performance.
He stunned 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals and set up a final against 30-year-old Rinderknech, who in his own remarkable semi-final defeated four-time major finalist Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion.
Vachereau put on a serving masterclass in the third set, making three catches in a row and scoring 15 straight points before finally losing a point in the eighth game on an unforced error.
Helped to stay in the match at 15-40, Rinderknech saved one match point but Vachereau put him off the mark with another brilliant forehand winner to take the win.
He covered his face with his hands in disbelief before walking up to the net to hug his cousin and then rushing to his team's box to share a long hug with coach Benjamin Ballere, his half-brother and former Monaco tennis player.
The highlight of Ballere's career was his defeat by tennis great Roger Federer in the early rounds of the Monte Carlo Masters in 2006.
Nineteen years later, Federer was in the Shanghai crowd to watch Rinderknech win the first set with an ace.
Vacho secured an early break in the decider and then missed four break point chances in the fifth game as Rinderknech was reprieved. The Frenchman immediately took a three-minute medical time-out to massage his back and then his left shoulder.
But there was nothing he could do to stop his cousin's movement.
They had never played each other on the professional tour before, with Rinderknech winning their only meeting at the Futures tournament in 2018. ___
AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
