SHANGHAI — Valentin Bachelot scored the biggest victory of his career Saturday, defeating a limping Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the Shanghai Masters final where he will face his cousin.
Vacherot (Monaco), ranked 204th in the rankings, was an alternate in qualifying, but is having a career week.
“Is this for real? I don’t know,” the 26-year-old Bashro said shortly after defeating the 24-time Grand Slam champion. “First of all, it was an incredible experience for me to have Novak on the other side of the court.”
Now, believe it or not, his next trial could be against his cousin Arthur Rinderknecke.
Rindernecke will face 16th seed Daniil Medvedev in Saturday’s semifinals.
“Obviously there’s going to be some recovery, but I’m not going to miss it,” Bashro said of Cousin’s fight.
Djokovic, 38, was slowed down throughout the match due to hip pain. After falling behind 4-3 in the first set, he took a medical timeout. In the next two games he scored only one point.
Vashlot played college tennis at Texas A&M.
