Valentin Vacherot has called his victory over Novak Djokovic an ‘unreal experience’ after producing yet another Shanghai upset.
The man from Monaco produced a dominant 6-3, 6-4 result over the 24-time Grand Slam champion to reach the final in Shanghai.
Vacherot continued to unleash his barrage of groundstrokes and serves against a Djokovic who appeared to be physically struggling, as he had been all week.
“I’m not realising [what’s happened], so I can’t give any words on it,” said the Monegasque, having never played a top-10 player before in his career.
“This is just crazy. First of all, to just be on the other side of the court [from Novak] was an unbelievable experience.
“I think I’ve got so much to learn from this match, from him. Even for myself, I’ve got a lot to keep.
“It was an hour and 40 minutes of pure joy, even though not many people wanted me to keep going. He’s really appreciated here. He has won four times.
“I got a bit lost in all his titles when they were announcing him, but it was an unreal experience.
“Now I’m probably just going to enjoy the win tonight and think about the final tomorrow.”
Overall, Vacherot is the lowest-ranked player to reach a Masters 1000 final, with Andrei Pavel having held the previous record after he made the showpiece match at the 2003 Paris Masters final as the world No 191.
As a result of his Shanghai run, Vacherot will rise to the world No 58 spot, with an opportunity to enter the world’s top 40 – should he prevail in Sunday’s final.
Additionally, he is the third lowest-ranked player to be victorious against Djokovic, with Reilly Opelka (world No 293) and Filip Krajinovic (world No 319) topping the list.
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“I didn’t even come as a qualifier, I came as an alternate,” he later explained.
“I wasn’t 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’ve just got to fight your way through a little bit.”
In total, Vacherot has now knocked out five of the tournament’s seed players, with Djokovic joining Alexander Bublik, Tomas Machac Tallon Griekspoor, and Holger Rune as casualties of the dream run.
He will next face his cousin, Arthur Rinderknech.
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