World No.204 Valentin Vacherot creates history in Shanghai to leave tennis world stunned

A stunned Valentin Vacherot after toppling Novak Djokovic. (Getty/Hector Retamal)

Arriving at the Shanghai Masters as the ninth qualifying alternate, it was already a gamble for world No.204 Valentin Vacherot to hop on the plane.

But that gutsy move has paid dividends in more ways than one, as the 26-year-old became the lowest-ranked player to reach a Masters 1000 final to go within one win of completing a true fairytale.

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Vacherot, who was forced to come back from a set down in both of his qualifying matches, defeated his idol Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.

Despite an ailing Djokovic being pushed to breaking point and requiring multiple medical timeouts, his opponent kept his composure in a 6-3, 6-4 victory.

A humble Djokovic was gracious in defeat at the net, telling an apologetic Vacherot: "You deserve it. You deserve it, man. You played unbelievable. Keep it going."

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"I'm not realising [what's happened], so I can't give any words on it," Vacherot said post-match. "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."

In his press conference, he added: "When I stood in the locker room and turned on my phone, it was pretty hard to not have a few tears, just having messages from everyone in Monaco back home."

Vacherot becomes the first Monegasque player to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final, and rises to a career-high world No.58 in the live rankings.

En route to the decider, Vacherot has taken down five seeds in the main draw.

Prior to the tournament, he had made $594,077 in career earnings, but is now guaranteed to collect $597,000.

As if his story couldn’t get crazy enough, Vacherot awaits his cousin, Arthur Rinderknech, in the final.

Rinderknech, who has mentioned how proud he is of Vacherot’s miracle run, toppled Daniil Medvedev 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

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