The experts are back for a simply hard-to-believe final showdown at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. It was a dream week for cousins Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot. A panel of two teams makes its predictions.
Ricky: Rinderknech vs. Vacherot would have been a completely unremarkable first round match in Shanghai. Two weeks later it is a championship match about which the tennis world writes epic sonnets. Well…at least we make expert choices for it. The cousins (their mothers are sisters) and former Texas A&M teammates will face off Sunday in the biggest game of their lives.
Rinderknech, 30, is clearly the much more talented player. However, you can pretty much throw rankings, results, and any other stats for this matchup out the window. It’s all about how each man handles the moment. Still, I prefer Rinderknech because of his experience and his extensive record of impressive tennis. The 54th-ranked Frenchman is 12-3 in his last 15 matches dating back to the US Open. For Vacherot, number 204 in the world, this run comes completely out of nowhere. That said, the 26-year-old from Monaco cannot be left out considering how well he handled the Masters 1000 semi-final against Novak Djokovic (6-3, 6-4 on Saturday). I’m not sure this will be the highest quality match under these fascinating circumstances, but it should be extremely entertaining. Rinderknech in 3: 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3.
Cheryl: I’m pretty sure I’ve never had the opportunity to say “tennis cousins” in an official capacity before. And yet here we are: with the most unlikely Masters final of all time probably on deck in Shanghai, with a few cousins battling it out for 1,000 ranking points. The inclusion of No. 54 Arthur Rinderknech in Sunday’s final would be remarkable enough: he played a few Challenger events this year and has never won an ATP Tour title.
But Valentin Valerot? Well… to give you some perspective on his previous obscurity, two days ago his ‘Bio’ page on the ATP website was empty (it has since been filled with a few short texts about Texas A&M and his ability to speak French fluently). And yet world number 204 has been literally brilliant over the last two weeks. Every player in his path, except Laslo Djere in the first round, was seeded. Each and every one – including top 10 player Holger Rune and the GOAT himself, Novak Djokovic. A Vacherot win on Sunday would be the kind of fairytale ending this tournament deserves…. But I don’t see it happening. Rinderknech is the more experienced and seasoned player, and is less likely to take a series of medical timeouts like Djokovic did in the semi-final. Cheryl chooses: Rinderknech in 3: 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
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