Valentin Vacherot Stuns The Tennis World!

Until now, Valentin Vacherot had never played in a tour-level final. However, that all changed at the Shanghai Masters 1000 tournament, where the Monaco native wrote one of the most remarkable stories of the tennis season. His incredible run not only made history but also earned him more prize money than he had won throughout his entire career up to that point.

Ranked 204th in the world, Valentin Vacherot battled through the qualifying rounds just to make the main draw. Before the tournament, he had only one ATP Tour-level win to his name; however, over the course of two unforgettable weeks, he completely rewrote his career trajectory.

Valentin Vacherot claimed stunning victories over Laslo Đere, Alexander Bublik, Tomas Machac, and Tallon Griekspoor, before pulling off a major upset against Holger Rune. That win made him the first player from Monaco ever to reach the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000 event.

Biggest Wins Yet

He wasn’t done. Valentin Vacherot went on to defeat a struggling, however still dangerous Novak Đoković, a four-time Shanghai champion, in a huge shock to reach the final. There, he faced his cousin, Arthur Rinderknech, who had his own impressive run, knocking out Alexander Zverev, Jiri Lehecka, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Daniil Medvedev.

In the final, Valentin Vacherot came from a set down to win 4–6, 6–3, 6–3, making history once again. He became the first player from Monaco to win an ATP Tour title in the Open Era, and only the third qualifier ever to win a Masters 1000 title.

By winning the tournament, Valentin Vacherot will soar from world No. 204 to No. 40 in the ATP rankings and take home $1,124,380 in prize money, nearly double his total career earnings of $594,077 prior to this event.

As runner-up, Arthur Rinderknech earned $597,890.