Novak Djokovic battled past the feisty Zizou Bergs 6-3, 7-5 on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters for the 10th time, setting up a showdown with surprise package and world number 204 Valentin Vacherot.
In challenging conditions, Djokovic was forced to work harder than the scoreline suggests by his Belgian opponent, who hit more winners than the four-time champion but was undone by unforced errors.
“First meeting with Bergs, a great guy. Obviously a lot of firepower in his game. He played a good match,” Djokovic said. “I was a bit too passive. It’s very challenging conditions for all players these days. I’m just trying to stay alive on the pitch and I’m happy that I was able to overcome this obstacle.”
In the opening set, Bergs showed remarkable resilience by saving five set points to frustrate Djokovic, before the Serbian finally closed the set with an unreturned serve. The second set proved even more grueling, with both players serving well but treating the crowd to breathtaking rallies that left Djokovic hunched over his racket several times.
The highlight came during an extraordinary rally that saw the fourth seed give Bergs five golden chances to seal the point with shots from above and volleys to the net, somehow emerging victorious and bringing the crowd to its feet. Djokovic ultimately sealed victory on his third match point and advanced to face Vacherot in what promises to be an intriguing semi-final. “Great story for him. This tournament has eliminated top players in the world… it’s really impressive what he’s doing,” Djokovic said of his next opponent.
Vacherot pulled off a huge upset, beating 10th seed Holger Rune 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 to become the second-lowest seeded player ever to reach an ATP Masters semi-final. The remarkable run of the Monégasque qualifier will see him enter the top 100 next week after spending half of last year sidelined with injury, but even playing in Shanghai was a question mark when he arrived.
“I didn’t even come as a qualifier, I came as an alternate. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to play the qualifier,” Vacherot said. “Coming back after six months away is always not easy. You can’t just come back and win tournaments, both left and right. You just have to fight through it a bit.”
Vacherot’s stunning journey in Shanghai, which now includes victories over four seeds, looked doomed early on as Rune raced through a physically demanding opening set with the underdog feeling his “lungs screaming”. But the tide turned dramatically in the second set tiebreak when Vacherot produced a stunning backhand crosscourt winner to take a 5-4 lead.
Rune crashed his next shot into the net and could only watch as Vacherot fired a forehand winner down the line on set point to level the match. Rune struggled physically in the decider, forcing the trainer to massage his leg twice. Vacherot then took advantage of a memorable victory in a match that lasted just three hours.
“It would mean a lot to play against at least one of the ‘Big Three’ guys in my career,” Vacherot said of Djokovic’s role. Vacherot’s cousin, Arthur Rinderknech, is also in the quarter-finals, with the Frenchman playing Félix Auger-Aliassime on Friday.
Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina, meanwhile, will renew their rivalry in the quarterfinals of the Wuhan Open.
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Both reached the last eight in China with straight-set wins, with three-time champion Sabalenka continuing her unbeaten record at the tournament with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Liudmila Samsonova and eighth seed Rybakina beating Linda Noskova 6-3 6-4.
This will be the thirteenth meeting between them – with Sabalenka leading 7-5 – but Rybakina won their last match comfortably in Cincinnati in August.
The victory over Noskova also boosted Rybakina’s hopes of qualifying for the WTA Finals, although Jasmine Paolini and Jessica Pegula, who are ahead of her in the rankings, both also won.
Paolini took advantage of opponent Clara Tauson’s injury retirement in the third set of their match and will next face second seed Iga Swiatek, who defeated Belinda Bencic 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Peugla, meanwhile, went the distance again in a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory over ninth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. “I can’t remember the last time I played two sets,” said the American. “But I fought very hard and played against a lot of good players.”
She was joined in the quarterfinals by third seed Coco Gauff, who eased to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over home hope Zhang Shuai.
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