Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot will face off in the Shanghai Masters final on Sunday after a double surprise in the semi-final.
Just hours after his stunning victory over Novak Djokovic in the Shanghai Masters semi-final, Valentin Vacherot was back on court, this time to share a heartfelt moment with his next opponent. In an unexpected twist, Vacherot will be facing off against his own cousin, French tennis star Arthur Rinderknech, in Sunday’s final.
Rinderknech secured one of the most significant victories of his career, coming from behind to defeat 2019 champion Daniil Medvedev 4-6 6-2 6-4. An emotional Vacherot watched the match from the stands, shedding tears of joy for his cousin’s triumph.
The pair shared a warm embrace on the court, less than a day before their highly anticipated showdown in the final.
READ MORE: Aryna Sabalenka avoids disqualification for dangerous incident in Wuhan Open disasterREAD MORE: Novak Djokovic’s true character on show with gesture right after Shanghai Masters exit
Throughout the week in Shanghai, Rinderknech and Vacherot have been each other’s biggest cheerleaders. Vacherot, a qualifier from Monaco, was always a step ahead in the draw, playing his matches a day before his world No.54-ranked cousin.
Whenever it was Rinderknech’s turn to play, he found inspiration in Vacherot’s success, striving to join him in the next round – a strategy that proved successful. The cousins supported each other from their respective boxes during the earlier rounds, but this wasn’t possible on Saturday when they had to play their semi-finals back-to-back.
World No. 203 Vacherot achieved the greatest win of his career in the first semi-final of the day, defeating a struggling Djokovic in straight sets. Then, it was Rinderknech’s turn to take centre stage.
After defeating top-20 stars Jiri Lehecka and Felix Auger-Aliassime in the previous rounds, the Frenchman pulled off another shock as he rallied from a set down to overcome former champion and 16th seed Medvedev. He secured his spot in the final when Medvedev double-faulted on match point.
As the game neared its climax, Vacherot returned from his cooldown and media duties to witness Rinderknech clinch another impressive victory to reach the final. The qualifier couldn’t contain his joy or his tears as his cousin fell to the ground in ecstasy.
“This moment belongs to Arthur Rinderknech. What an extraordinary story this is. His cousin is there, he’s in tears, he’s already in the final. It’s going to be battle within the family,” Sky Sports commentator Naomi Cavaday declared.
While Rinderknech was still crouched on the court, Vacherot was urged to descend from the stands and join him on the court – and he complied. Co-commentator Colin Fleming said: “Look at these scenes, it’s cousins, Arthur Rinderknech against Valentin Vacherot tomorrow in the Shanghai Masters final. Just incredible.
“He’s coming onto the court here, they’ve got to save it for tomorrow! Crazy story. I’ve never seen someone’s opponent in a final come onto the court and hug them after they’ve won the semi, but that’s where we are in Shanghai.”
Rinderknech was left in awe of his and his cousin’s achievement. “In the best dreams, we couldn’t have dreamed about this. I can’t even say this is a dream because I don’t think even one person in our family dreamt about it,” said the world No. 54.
“It wasn’t a dream, it’s just a dream that came out of nowhere. We started believing it, I would say, quarters maybe. I was like, ‘Oh, who knows? It’s really hard, maybe a guy or two can pull out, or whatever can happen’. Now we are here, we fought through so many matches and somehow we are the both guys standing at the end. Just incredible.”
Vacherot may be the standout story of the week, given that he’s ranked outside the top 200 and came through qualifying, but Rinderknech has also earned some of the biggest wins of his career. After feeling “dead”, the French star was motivated to at least help Vacherot out by making Medvedev tired, and he booked a place in the final himself.
He added: “Tonight was really humid, the ball was really slow. I couldn’t finish a point with Daniil and I was pretty much just dead after a set and I was like, ‘You know what? Maybe I’m going to lose but I’m going to fight like crazy so I’m going to make him tired for tomorrow and at least I’m going to help Val to start the match a little bit ahead physically’.
“And then somehow I got the break, and then another one to finish the set, and then I was like, ‘I’m just going to try everything and give it my best’, and somehow it worked out. I don’t even know how, I need to watch the replay to understand something about tennis right now because I can’t understand anything right now for sure.”