Qualifier Valentin Vacherot\u2019s run at the Shanghai Masters has been one of the highlights of the tournament \u2013 and next he will face one of the all-time greats in Novak Djokovic for a shot at the final.<\/p>\n
Ranked No 204 at the start of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, Vacherot was an underdog from the word go as he defeated two seeded players in qualifying to reach the main draw.<\/p>\n
He then defeated world No 82 Laslo Djere, 14th seed and world No 17 Alexander Bublik, 20th seed and world No 23 Tomas Machac, and 27th seed and world No 31 to reach the quarter-final.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old\u2019s best was yet to come as he stunned 10th seed and world No 11 Holger Rune 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to reach the semi-final.<\/p>\n
With his run, the man from Monaco notched up several milestones as he is the first Monegasque player to reach the last four of an ATP Masters event while he is the second-lowest ranked man to reach a 1000 semi-final since 1990 after Chris Woodruff (No 550) at Indian Wells in 1999.<\/p>\n
And he will now have a shot at reaching the final, but standing in his way is 24-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic<\/a>, who defeated Zizou Bergs in straight sets.<\/p>\n Vacherot\u2019s run has gripped the imagination of the tennis world, and Djokovic<\/a> is delighted for the 26-year-old from Monaco.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve known him for the last couple of years. Obviously, he\u2019s ranked before this tournament 200-plus. He\u2019s been around. He\u2019s playing for Monaco, which is a really great success, the biggest historical success for Monaco,\u201d the former world No 1 said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s amazing. So everyone is excited there. We know we have one of the nicest and biggest tournaments in our sport there in Monaco.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I\u2019m glad for him, for his team. Benjamin Balleret [Vacherot\u2019s half-brother and coach] is someone I\u2019ve known for many years from Monaco, because being based there for 15 years, training at the Monte-Carlo Country Club.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been improving a lot. We always knew that he\u2019s got a great potential, with a big serve, a big game, he\u2019s a big guy.<\/p>\n \u201cHe kind of plays quite similar to [Arthur] Rinderknech [Vacherot\u2019s cousin], you know. And I see that they\u2019re quite close. The serve particularly reminds me of Arthur as well. So it\u2019s great to see that chemistry between them, that they\u2019re supporting each other. Arthur was there the whole match.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, historic success for him and, yeah, I\u2019m looking forward to play him. Hopefully I can get a win.\u201d<\/p>\n Novak Djokovic makes blunt injury comments as he dismisses \u2018easy\u2019 Shanghai Masters suggestion<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Exclusive: Can tennis stars manage the schedule better after Carlos Alcaraz injury setback? Leading expert reveals<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Vacherot \u2013 who will make his top 100 breakthrough as he is set to rise 112 places to a career-high No 92 \u2013 was initially a ranked outside to play in qualifiers as he was No 22 on the alternate last, but late withdrawals meant he had a shot.<\/p>\n And he has gone from a last-minute entry into the qualifiers to the semi-finals.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I knew it 36 hours before [the qualifiers started]. Maybe the night, not the night right before, the night before. So, yeah, a bit like 36 hours before the first match. Not that long. I think I landed and I was still nine out,\u201d he revealed.<\/p>\n Vacherot added: \u201cI landed on Thursday evening. I was still nine out. I knew there was a big chance because Shanghai is the last Masters 1000. A few guys, if you\u2019re hurt at the end of the season you are not taking risks. I knew it will drop.<\/p>\n \u201cI said, worst of all, I was going to be here one week earlier, because I was going to play five more Challengers after. Now I\u2019m just going to go home after this tournament, so it\u2019s another funny story. I said to myself, if I don\u2019t get in, I just train in the condition of China for just one week, and just be ready for after. And one day before I learned.\u201d<\/p>\n The post What Novak Djokovic had to say about his next opponent, world No 204 Valentin Vacherot<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Qualifier Valentin Vacherot\u2019s run at the Shanghai Masters has been one of the highlights of the tournament \u2013 and next he will face one of the all-time greats in Novak Djokovic for a shot at the final. Ranked No 204 at the start of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, Vacherot was an underdog from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}ATP News<\/h2>\n