Arthur Rinderknech booked a family affair with his cousin Valentin Vacherot at the 2025 Shanghai Masters on Sunday (October 12) after beating Daniil Medvedev in three sets in the semifinals. The Frenchman later disclosed that excitement is rife in their extended family’s social media group ahead of their title match encounter.
Earlier on Saturday, World No. 204 Vacherot did the unthinkable as he upset four-time Shanghai Masters champion Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 in his first hardcourt semifinal of 2025 on either the ATP Tour or the Challenger circuit. On the other side of the draw, his 30-year-old cousin Rinderknech also swept aside one seeded player after another to make it to the last four.
The World No. 54 then put together arguably the best performance of his career against 2019 titlist Medvedev, overcoming a set deficit to eventually come through 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, reaching his first tour-level final since the 2022 Adelaide International. Following his win, he was greeted warmly by Valentin Vacherot, and the two cousins exchanged a few words as the Qizhong Stadium crowd cheered on.
During his on-court interview afterwards, Arthur Rinderknech claimed that the prospect of playing his cousin in the Shanghai Masters final wouldn’t have materialized even in his and their family’s “best dreams”. He also claimed that, realistically speaking, they bought into the above idea only from the quarterfinals onwards.
“I don’t know. In the best dreams we couldn’t have dreamt about this. I can’t even say it’s a dream. I don’t think even one person in our family dreamt about it. It wasn’t a dream. It’s just a dream that came out of nowhere and we started believing it maybe in the quarters,” Arthur Rinderknech said. “I was like, ‘Who knows? It’s very hard. Maybe a guy or two can pull out. Whatever can happen.'”
“Now we are here. We fought so many matches. Somehow we are both guys standing at the end. Just incredible.”
For those unaware, Valentin Vacherot got into the Shanghai Masters qualifying draw as an Alternate, and has since made the most out of the golden opportunity presented to him. In the main draw, the Monegasque overcame seeded players like Novak Djokovic, Holger Rune, Alexander Bublik, Tomas Machac, and Tallon Griekspoor en route to his first-ever final on the ATP Tour.
Valentin Vacherot to take more prize money at Shanghai Masters than he accumulated in his entire career before this week
Valentin Vacherot had competed mostly on the ATP Challenger Tour before flying for the Shanghai Masters in late September. With four Challenger-level singles titles to his name, the 26-year-old had accumulated prize money winnings worth $594,077.
The World No. 204 enjoyed a complete reversal of fortunes this fortnight in Shanghai. By virtue of his run to the final of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, he is assured of raking in a paycheque of at least $597,890, which is more than his career prize money earnings. If he does go all the way, he will earn almost double the above figure – $1,124,380.
Moreover, Vacherot is set to break into the men’s top 100 ATP rankings as a result of his latest results, thereby achieving his career-high singles ranking. Rinderknech, meanwhile, will make his top 30 debut in next week’s updated rankings.
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Edited by Rudra Biswas
