Article by Daniel Grigore – published on Sunday, October 12, 2025, 17:35 / Updated Sunday, October 12, 2025 17:42
The 26-year-old Valentin Valentin Monegascus became the first Top 200 tennis player who wins a Masters 1000 category tournament, defeating his cousin in the Shanghai final, Arthur Rinderknech, in 3 sets: 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Valentin Vacherot entered the Shanghai tournament in the qualifying phase, occupying 204th place in the world. Two weeks later he won the first career trophy, even one of the most prestigious, Masters 1000 category!
Valentin Vacherot, 204th place in the world, won the Masters 1000 tournament from Shanghai!
Is a success that not only will it propel it in the ATP ranking between the first 50 players of the worldbut it will bring them the largest check of careerworth 1,124,380 US dollars, almost double that he had won in his entire activity, that is $ 594,000!
In today's final, Vacherot even defeated the cousin, Arthur Rinderknech, who represents France. He thus sealed a performance that no tenism outside the top 200 had done, to win a tour of such a major. So far, the weakest ranking finalist in Masters 1000 history was Andrei Pavel, in 2003.
DREAMS DO COME TRUE 💫
The moment @Val_vacherot'S Life Changed Forever.@Sh_roolexmasters | #Roolexshanghaimasters pic.twitter.com/ywxtxj2q3l
– ATP Tour (@atptour) October 12, 2025
Val, as he is aligned by the close ones, was a ski lover before dedicating tennis and becoming the seventh player whose first finished final was directly at a Masters 1000.
In the new millennium, only Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Dusan Lajovic, Filip Krajinovic, Jerzy Janowicz, Radek Stepanek and Max Mirnyi have been in this situation, but none won.
The confrontation of the summers lasted 130 minutes and started with a set of Rinderknech. But Vacherot returned and perfected the dream week, in which he eliminated Novak Djokovic and Holger Rune!
In the end, during the award ceremony, Vacherot could not control his tears. It is a huge success for the country it represents, the Principality of Monaco, given that No MoneGascus player had won a tournament from the ATP circuit to this day!
