The Vacherot madness: The Monegasque takes down Djokovic and reaches his first Masters 1000 final in Shanghai

Incredible Vacherot! The 26-year-old player eliminated Novak Djokovic and will compete in the final at the Shanghai Masters 1000.

The long-awaited semifinals at the Shanghai Masters 1000 are here. The first match of the day pitted Novak Djokovic, now the tournament favorite and four-time winner in China, against Valentin Vacherot, who came through qualifying and is a novice at this stage of competition in this tournament category.

The matchup seemed unbalanced, especially since the Monegasque player is competing in his 8th match of the tournament. The Serbian started perfectly with a break in the very first game. But Vacherot immediately responded with an immediate break back.

Djokovic, quickly hampered physically, even took a medical timeout midway through the first set for lower back pain. Vacherot, who wasn't destabilized by the situation, quickly wrapped up the first set.

Not at his best physically, the world No. 5 hung in there and led for most of the second set, until 4-4. That's when Vacherot chose to break, meaning he would have to serve for the match.

A tense final game, especially since the Monegasque, ranked 204th in the world before the tournament, saw his arm start to tremble when two points from victory. Ultimately, Vacherot, who saved a break point, showed strong nerves to win in straight sets (6-3, 6-4 in 1h42).

With 22 winners (compared to 9 for his opponent), Vacherot continues his exceptional run and will compete this Sunday in the first final of his career on the ATP Tour, in a Masters 1000, against his cousin Arthur Rinderknech or Daniil Medvedev.

At the same time, Vacherot becomes the lowest-ranked player in ATP Tour history to reach a Masters 1000 final, surpassing Andrei Pavel, who was world No. 191 when the Romanian lost the Paris-Bercy Masters 1000 final in 2003 to Tim Henman.