Arthur Rinderknech achieved the biggest victory of his career on Friday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, where he passed Felix Auger-Aliassime to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.
Rinderknech defeated world number 3 Alexander Zverev and world number 19 Jiri Lehecka to advance to his first Masters 1000 quarter-final, but ensured his run would not end against world number 13 Auger-Aliassime. The Frenchman produced a quality display of aggressive hitting and closed the match with authority, completing a dominant 6-3, 6-4 win on his second match point after 87 minutes.
After his victory, Rinderknech raised his arms and looked at his cousin Valentin Vacherot, who will face Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals on Saturday. Read more about the the couple’s story here.
“It’s huge. First of all, I followed my cousin,” said Rinderknech, referring to qualifier Vacherot, who is on the verge of breaking the Top 100 after becoming the first Monegasque player to reach a semi-final at tour level. “On Thursday he was feeling emotional and I’m trying to follow him and compete and do the same. It’s been incredible since the start of the tournament.”
“The whole family is watching from home. We’re in our own little world here. It was incredible and today was a good performance from myself and I’m glad it was straight sets, so I’m not too tired for tomorrow.”
Rinderknech has risen seventeen places to number 37 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings and will rise to a career high on Monday. The 30-year-old, who has made it three consecutive Top 20 wins, is the third Frenchman to reach the semi-finals in Shanghai, joining Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2013, ’15) and Gilles Simon (’14, 16). Rinderknech will meet Alex de Minaur or Daniil Medvedev in the last four.
Auger-Aliassime had only lost his serve once in the entire tournament before meeting Rinderknech, but was broken twice against the Frenchman. The Canadian gave Rinderknech an opening on his serve in the first set when he made two unforced errors on the forehand and hit a double fault. The 30-year-old took his chance with a forehand pass to break and completed a clean first set, hitting nine winners with just three unforced errors, on his first set point.
The 30-year-old continued to play on the front foot in the second set and fought hard on serve, crucially saving three break points at 2-1, 0/40 to maintain his break advantage. He scored 20 winners in the match and won 85 percent of his first serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats, improving to 1-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Auger-Aliassime.
Rinderknech is delighted to have joined his cousin Vacherot in the last four and opened up after the match in the week they have.
“I was so stressed the whole match yesterday,” said Rinderknech, who watched Vacherot’s three-set victory against Holger Rune on the right. “I’m not used to seeing guys play on the court and I wanted him to win so bad. I was so stressed, but I didn’t want to show anything. I didn’t want to put pressure on him. Today it was a lot calmer for me on the court.”
Auger-Aliassime leaves Shanghai 10th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. The Canadian is 530 points behind Lorenzo Musetti, who is in eighth place, the last qualifying spot for the Nitto ATP Finals.
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