NOS Sport•
Valentin Vacherot’s tennis fairytale at the Shanghai masters tournament still continues. The 26-year-old Monegasque played his way through the qualifications to the main tournament in the Chinese metropolis and reached the final after an unlikely series of victories.
His latest scalp is not the least: 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic (WTA-5), seriously hampered by an uncooperative lower back, lost in two sets against the number 204 in the world, who will in any case find himself at 58th place on the global tennis ladder on Monday.
Vacherot, who had never managed to break many pots at ATP level until this tournament, triumphed 6-3, 6-4 and follows the Romanian Andrei Pavel (Paris, 2003, ATP-191) as the lowest-ranked player ever in a final at a masters tournament. In Shanghai, Vacherot defeated Tallon Greek Spoor and Holger Rune (ATP-11) in the quarter-finals.
Medical timeout
Vacherot didn’t start well with a loss of service, but repaired that damage a game later. It was clear that Djokovic could not easily get rid of the surprise of the tournament. And especially not when the Serbian needed a medical time-out at 3-4 for treatment on his lower back.
Once back on the track, the problem turned out to be anything but resolved. Serving with difficulty and stumbling around after every rally, he had to surrender the game, after which Vacherot served the set at love.
Djokovic’s back was once again taken care of. The former world number one had no intention of giving up on Maarten and managed to survive two break points in the first game of the second set. It wasn’t all going well – his look at his coaching box also betrayed it – but he persevered well.
Double faults
Vacherot had to keep a cool head in warm Shanghai with high humidity against the four-time tournament winner, who last lost his fifth final in the Chinese city to Jannik Sinner. The Serbian also gradually started moving better.
At 4-4 things went wrong for Djokovic, who started the game with two double faults, fought back, but ultimately surrendered his serve with another double fault. He got another chance for a rebreak, but could not prevent Vacherot from striking on his second match point.
In the final Vacherot may come up against his cousin Arthur Rinderknech. The Frenchman must first deal with the Russian Daniil Medvedev.
