At the ATP Shanghai (Masters 1000), on October 10, 2025, Arthur Rinderknech, ranked 54th in the world at the start, tamed Félix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-4 to secure the first semifinal at the Shanghai Masters 1000 of his career. Supported by a sovereign serve and a cool management of key points, the Frenchman achieved a third victory of the week against a Top 20, while his cousin Valentin Vacherot also extends his improbable run.
The match that changes a face
Under the milky light of the Chinese evening, Arthur Rinderknech clenched his fist as if sealing a pact with himself. On October 10, 2025, on the princely court of the ATP Masters in Shanghai, he mastered Félix Auger-Aliassime: 6-3, 6-4. A clear, almost dry line that says it all. A single break was enough to dictate the first set, a break at the start to frame the second, then three break points saved at 2-1 to fend off the Canadian comeback. The match point flew by on an ace, velvet glove and granite slap. Here is the first semifinal at the Shanghai Masters 1000 of a patiently built career.
Rinderknech, 30 years old, 1.96 m, upright silhouette and calm gaze, simply moved forward with sure steps. His tennis speaks little, but speaks accurately: a steady serve, a crafted volley, drop shots like a courtesy. In Shanghai, the economy of movement becomes splendor.
The milestones of a singular week
It all started with a breath. First Alex Michelsen mastered, then Alexander Zverev, world number 3, overturned a second time in three months, a vibrant echo of the London grass. In the round of 16, Jiří Lehečka, n° 19, encountered a no-frills defense. In the quarterfinals, Auger-Aliassime, n° 13, eventually gave in to the polite persistence of the Frenchman. Three victories over Top 20 in a single week: the records love these clear series, the players know how rare they are.
Regarding the results of the Shanghai Masters, the numbers remain modest, almost puritanical. Few double faults, many first serves, better-tamed second serves. The great merit here lies in managing the headwind. These three break points saved have the leather of an entire season. Shanghai is as much about tact as it is about breath.
A double adventure: the benevolent shadow of the cousin
There is, in this story, a cousinship that adds its flavor. Valentin Vacherot, Monegasque, n° 204, secured his own semifinal the day before after overturning Holger Rune. The cheers echo from one court to another: here the precision of Arthur, there the fervor of Valentin. They share the same blood, not the same jersey, a balance that makes Shanghai smile. In the stands, this tune is murmured: two boys on the same wire, each with his own light, the same vertigo.
For French tennis, the image is striking, clear: while Rinderknech opens a first grand balcony, Vacherot, the magnetic "Little Thumb," advances in the wake of an unbelievable week. One never knows to whom an epic belongs: to the one who lives it, to the one who watches it, or to those who inherit it.
Shanghai Masters draw: next threshold, Medvedev or De Minaur
The brush hesitates between two portraits. Daniil Medvedev, n° 16, a living laboratory, rough angles and wire, or Alex De Minaur, n° 7, quiet perfectionism, no support and nerve on edge. Rinderknech has already crossed paths with the latter, in Beijing, without finding the key. The former forces you to think on the edge of the table. No matter the rival of the final four: the challenge will be mental first.
In the geography of the Shanghai tournament, a semifinal of the Shanghai Masters 1000 is not visited, it is conquered. It will be necessary to hold the long diagonal and accept the suspended exchanges. Moreover, serving first when it burns is crucial. Furthermore, it is important to vary the landing point. Additionally, dissuading the opponent from settling into repetition is essential. Shanghai rewards those who modulate the pace.
The school of fundamentals
One wonders what has matured so much in Arthur Rinderknech. The answers, as often, are found far from the spotlight. There is the American university foundation, Texas A&M, this science of repetition and the collective, a land where one learns to economize to better overcome abrupt evenings. There is this taste for the well-prepared volley, heritage of a French tennis finally without reluctance. Moreover, there is above all a clinical management of key points, a discreet know-how making Mondays fruitful. Furthermore, this same know-how makes Fridays decisive.
The ball leaves quickly and does not always return. Rinderknech’s first serve refuses noise, traces its line, digs its furrow. Shanghai has not seen a deluge of aces. However, there has been a series of well-placed and timely serves. At a time when so many matches get carried away on a volley of exuberance, the Frenchman has chosen effective sobriety. Great weeks resemble this: few demonstrations, many applications.
2025, a turbulent year, a corrected trajectory
The year left him with debts. Tours where the draws opened poorly, second rounds like rough ceilings. Then there was the shock of Wimbledon, already Zverev, already the sensation of a broken ceiling. In Shanghai, continuity is emerging: the same controlled risk-taking, the same lucidity in lukewarm moments. Confidence, a word overused so many times, regains its rights here. It does not win points, it authorizes them.
In the rankings, the reward will follow. According to ATP Shanghai results, projections announce a leap towards his best rank. He is approaching the doors of the Top 40, which promises entries into major draws without relying on chance. The hardest part often begins there: making what has emerged last.
Match scenes: the detail that decides
We recall this disciplined first set, the only break point converted as one closes a lock. Then this break at the start of the second, almost a manifesto: it was about taking space, setting the scene. At 2-1, three break points accused the light. The Shanghai Masters tennis audience, good-natured, held its breath. Rinderknech served to the body, stretched the outer zone, advanced behind the ball as one advances in the mountains, by stages, without dramatizing the altitude. When the last ball went out, the Frenchman did not shout. He simply saluted.
There was no hurricane. Just a continuous pressure that wears down and suffocates rebellions. On the rare long balls, he varied, slipped in a drop shot, sought the controlled volley. It is not spectacular at every point. It is professional at every moment.
The gaze of Shanghai
The city buzzed that evening, like a happy mechanism. People left the offices, joined the stands, remembered that a Masters 1000 is an open-air theater. Phones lit up when Vacherot appeared on the giant screen, bringing the tournament back to a sort of family novel. The idea that a cousin from Monaco and a cousin from France meet amuses the crowd. Indeed, this meeting takes place over a weekend. Moreover, it sharpens curiosities seeing them together in the same final four. This is not often written.
There is, in this parenthesis, something that reconciles. French tennis, so quick to doubt its heirs, offers itself here a story at human height. Rinderknech promises nothing, he continues. Vacherot does not explain, he plays. The rest, it is we who project it.
Where does such calm come from?
There is first the late experience. Rinderknech did not grow as a prodigious teenager. He learned patience, honed discipline, resisted shifting rankings. His game is not a cry, it is a sustained sentence. In the rest area between two points, the face says no more than the arm. Shanghai rewards this laconicity.
Then there is the choice of paths. By starting his journey through the American university, Arthur Rinderknech favored longevity over brilliance. From this school, he retained the art of interval training, the culture of useful training. These qualities shape a week like this: one cuts, breathes, starts again. Nothing is left to chance, everything is postponed to tomorrow.
What a semifinal tells
A semifinal is not lived in majesty, it is negotiated. Medvedev pushes for deconstruction, De Minaur for speed. Against the Russian, it will be necessary to break the oblique geometry, accept the exchange of patience, climb the points by steps. Against the Australian, it will be necessary to shorten, hold his hitting time, not give up the center. In each case, the serve remains the foundation, the first word and sometimes the last. The final ace against Auger-Aliassime is its signature.
Beyond the draw, the stake is elsewhere: to establish a lasting high-level credibility. The young wolves rise, the venerable cling. A place is earned through wear. Shanghai offers a ramp. Rinderknech engages without promise but with seriousness.
A name, a season, a measure
As often, the great victories only half illuminate. They say a form, leave in the shadow the mornings of weight training, the return of serve sessions, the travels. The victory against Zverev in London opened a door. The one in Shanghai says he knows how to take it. The matches won against Lehečka then Auger-Aliassime weave the thread of a coherent discourse. A season occasionally makes sense in five days.
Finally, there is this simple pleasure of seeing a French player impose a refined and effective style. The public recognizes itself in it. Detail enthusiasts too: the ball take forward, the volley hand, the economy of gestures. This does not make clips, but it changes a match.
The time gained on oneself
In the discreet noise of a well-mannered stadium, Arthur Rinderknech resumed a conversation started years ago with his own game. It took, in China, a more serious accent. We hear the promise of a major player, not by brilliance but by consistency. Tomorrow, the step will be higher. No matter the name on the poster: Shanghai, already, has delivered its truth. A Frenchman can gain time on himself there. Sometimes that’s all it takes to change a destiny.