Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Cousins Valentin Vacherot and Arthur Rinderknech will meet in the Shanghai Masters final after pulling off stunning upsets of former champions Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals on Sunday.
World number 204 Vacherot became the lowest-ranked player to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final after he defeated a struggling Djokovic 6-3 6-4.
Hours later, Rinderknech knocked out former U.S. Open champion Medvedev 4-6 6-2 6-4 to complete an extraordinary family double.
“I can’t even say it’s a dream because I don’t think even one person in our family dreamt about it,” Rinderknech said about facing his cousin in Sunday’s final.
“It was a dream that came out of nowhere.”
Qualifier Vacherot troubled Djokovic with drop shots and punishing rallies and the Serbian fourth seed, struggling to turn, took medical timeouts during both sets.
“This is just crazy… just to be on the other side of the court (with Djokovic) was an unbelievable experience,” said Vacherot, who became the first player from Monaco to reach an ATP tour final in the open era.
Djokovic broke Vacherot in the first game of the match, but the 26-year-old immediately broke back and built a 4-3 lead, when the Serbian took his first medical timeout.
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