Vacherot’s unforgettable run in Shanghai: five stunning facts

Valentin Vacherot of the Rolex Shanghai Masters put together one of the most memorable runs in ATP Tour history.

Vacherot, a qualifier who competed in tournament No. 204 in the PIF ATP Rankings, introduced himself to the tennis world in stunning fashion, reaching the final of the ATP Masters 1000 event on Saturday with an upset of 100-time tour titlist Novak Djokovic.

ATPTour.com takes a look at five stunning facts about the Monagesque star’s tournament.

Vacherot is the lowest-ranked finalist in the history of the ATP Masters 1000 series
Upon arrival in Shanghai, Andrei Pavel was the lowest-ranked finalist in the history of the Masters 1000 (since 1990), making the championship match at the 2003 Rolex Paris Masters. The Romanian was world number 191 when he pushed eventual champion Tim Henman to a final-set tiebreak before falling short.

Vacherot is the first player outside the Top 200 to reach a Masters 1000 final.

Lowest ranked ATP Masters 1000 finalists (since 1990)

He wrote Monegasque history
No player representing Monaco had reached the quarter-finals of an ATP Tour event, let alone the final of an ATP Masters 1000 event. By beating Djokovic, Vacherot also became the first Monegasque player to achieve a Top 10 victory.

He will make his Top 100 debut after Shanghai and is currently ranked No. 58 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

Shocker from outside Top 200

During his storybook tournament, Vacherot has three Top 20 wins, knocking out No. 17 Alexander Bublik, No. 11 Holger Rune and No. 5 Djokovic. He is only the second man outside the Top 200 to record three wins against Top 20 opponents this century.

The other player to do so was number 205 Tim van Rijthoven, who defeated three opponents in the Top 15 and won the ‘s-Hertogenbosch title in 2022.

Vacherot almost perfect against the Top 50 this season

With his win over Djokovic, Vacherot is now 7-1 against players in the Top 50 in 2025. Five of those wins have come in Shanghai, where he also defeated No. 31 Tallon Greek Spoor and No. 23 Tomas Machac.

This season he also defeated then No. 37 Nuno Borges in Davis Cup action and No. 49 Jan-Lennard Struff at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. That was his only career ATP Tour win before Shanghai, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index (was 1-5 in ATP main draws). His only loss this year against a Top 50 opponent came in three sets in the second round of Monte Carlo against Grigor Dimitrov.

Seventh player to reach the first final at the Masters 1000 event since 2000
Before the Rolex Shanghai Masters, only six players had reached their first ATP Tour final at a Masters 1000 event this century. Vacherot is seventh.

The 26-year-old joined Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Dusan Lajovic, Filip Krajinovic, Jerzy Janowicz, Radek Stepanek and Max Mirnyi to achieve the feat. No one on the list won the title, so Vacherot will try to become the first. Find out below where each player made their breakthrough.

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