SHANGHAI.- The Serbian Novak Djokovic (N.5) at 38 years old will play a new semifinal of a Masters 1000 after having beaten the Belgian this Wednesday Zizou Bergs and he will do it against the Monegasque Valentin Vacherotwhich got into the top four after having gone through the qualifying phase.
In the Shanghai oven and despite putting his hand on his ankle on several occasions, Djokovic beat Bergs (No. 44 in the world) 6-3 and 7-5 in almost two hours of play.
It will be Djokovic’s 80th appearance in the semi-finals at a Marsters 1000, a record, and he is the top favorite to win a tournament he has already won four times in the past.
Opposite the Serbian tennis legend will be a hitherto unknown player. Vacheron, 26, arrived in Shanghai as No. 204 in the ranking and will enter the Top 100 after his achievement in the Chinese tournament.
After going through the qualifying phase before playing in the main draw, Vacherot successively beat the Serbian Laslo Djere, the Kazakh Alexander Bublik, the Czech Tomas Machac and the Dutch Tallon Griegspoor to earn his place in the quarterfinals.
This Wednesday he gave a good account of the Danish Holger Rune, whom he defeated 2-6, 7-6 (7/4) and 6-4 in a long battle of three hours in which the Nordic could barely move on the court in the last points, completely exhausted.
Injured throughout 2024, Vacherot becomes the first Monegasque to reach the semifinals of a Masters 1000.
His tears at the end of the game reflected the feat achieved.
On Friday the semifinals will be completed: the Russian Daniil Medvedev will face the Australian Alex de Miñaur and the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime will face the Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, who curiously is Vacherot’s first cousin.
Egypt qualifies for the World Cup
Egypt qualified for the 2026 World Cup this Wednesday by beating Djibouti 3-0 in Casablanca, in a match in which its star Mohamed Salah shone with a double.
It is the fourth time in its history that Egypt will participate in the World Cup, which will be held in the middle of next year in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The North African nation had previously participated in the 1934, 1990 and 2018 editions.
