World No.204 Valentin Vacherot crowned lowest ranked ATP Masters winner in history at Shanghai Masters over cousin Arthur Rinderknech

Valentin Vacherot has completed one of the greatest underdog stories in ATP 1000 history as he has claimed the title at the Shanghai Masters over his cousin Arthur Rinderknech in a final no-one was quite expecting.

Vacherot is usually a name that only really pops up in the Monte-Carlo Masters with the Monegasque player only ever playing in the French Open major wise so it is very much unexpected. He will soar towards the top 50 though after starting the tournament World No.204.

He became the first Monegasque player to reach an ATP Tour and a Masters-level singles final at the same time at the Shanghai Masters. After qualifying, he recorded wins over Laslo Djere and Alexander Bublik and reached the fourth round after Tomas Machac retired. He became the second player from Monaco to reach the last 16 at a Masters tournament.

But then he backed that up albeit with Tallon Griekspoor his opponent going on a pretty vociferous rant afterwards. Griekspoor was ranked 27th but his biggest wins were still upon him as he saw off Holger Rune in the Quarter-Finals before taking down Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals in a superb end to the run.

Rinderknech dubbed it almost like a Hollywood dream after he defeated Daniil Medvedev to set up a family affair with the duo being cousins. Vacherot born in France despite representing Monaco. “In the best dreams, we couldn't have dreamt about this, so 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. “So it wasn't a dream, it's just a dream that came out of nowhere. We started believing it, I would say, in the quarters, maybe…

“Now we are here, we fought through so many matches and somehow we are the [two] guys standing at the end, so it's just incredible.”

But while it was a dream for both, it was more so for the World No.204 who becomes the lowest ranked player ever to win a Masters 1000. He lost the first set to Rinderknech who surged away 3-1 in the opening stanza breaking for 2-1 to stamp his authority. From there he didn't give much away and in reality Vacherot could've been broken again at 4-2 down with Rinderknech getting everything but a break point. But still emphatic holds saw Rinderknech tick the first box.

But back came Vacherot. He held serve at 3-2 with no break chances from either to start the set and he gobbled up the first one he got and the first one offered up from either wing since the start of the opening set. He broke for 5-3 on the second attempt and finished it off. From there he upped his level in supreme fashion.

He sensed the opportunity ahead of him and he took it with both hands. He broke for 1-0 in the final set and could've had another two breaks with Rinderknech hanging on for dear life but still despite that Vacherot surged ahead enough for it to not be an issue. He went 4-2 and 5-3 up and on his second match point showed no sort of issue finishing it off. A top 40 debut awaits and a true fairytale story concludes.

From a set down six times and only the third qualifier ever to win a Masters 1000 title and of course making history for Monaco, incredible scenes in Shanghai.