Valentin Vacherot has continued his winning streak at the Shanghai Masters.
Vacherot won the Shanghai Masters as the world number 204 last year, in an incredible breakthrough run as a qualifier after beating the likes of Novak Djokovic, Holger Rune and his cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the final.
The Monegasque has been able to replicate some of this form in 2026 after reaching the semi-finals of both the Monte Carlo Masters and more recently the Japan Open, which has enabled Vacherot to reach his career-high ranking of world number 14 ahead of his Shanghai Masters title defence.
Vacherot began his title defence in Shanghai by beating Sebastian Baez 6-4, 7-6(5), and he has now revealed what he thinks is different about this year’s tournament.
Valentin Vacherot claims the courts are quicker at the Shanghai Masters this year
Vacherot spoke in the mixed zone after making a winning start to his Shanghai Masters title defence, where he was asked if he felt relief after not losing his opening match.
“No, I think I got mentally pretty well ready for this,” responded Vacherot. “I tried to not take it as a title defence. It will be too arrogant to say I’m coming here to just defend my title.
“I think it’s just the joy of coming back here that’s taking over everything. I’m just so happy to play, and to get to play this first round and centre court, I didn’t really know if I was going to get to. And, yeah, just being back and working on the centre court is just crazy, because, yeah, last year was of course my best tennis of all time.”
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Vacherot was then asked about his serving, having won 83% of his points on first serve, as he claimed that the speed of the courts in Shanghai this year is quicker than in 2025.
“Yeah, yeah, was serving really well,” said Vacherot. “I knew it was going to be really tough against him because he puts so many balls in the court.
“The centre court is new, the surface is new, it’s faster than last year. I thought he played well and, yeah, maybe didn’t really expect to get broken back at 5-3, and that’s maybe the mistake I made, maybe a bit too confident in my game. But definitely, yeah, I thought he played good that game more than me playing bad. Then, yeah, happy of the way I played the tiebreak.”
Who are the only two players to have defended the Shanghai Masters?
While Vacherot is trying not to look at this year’s Shanghai Masters as a title defence, he can join an exclusive list if he does win back-to-back titles at the tournament.
The Shanghai Masters began back in 2009, and only two players have been able to defend their title since then.
Andy Murray was the first player to defend his title at the Shanghai Masters, having won the titles in both 2010 and 2011, before claiming a third title at the tournament in 2016. Djokovic would prevent Murray from winning a third consecutive title in the 2012 final, before defending his title in 2013.
| Year | Shanghai Masters singles champion |
| 2009 | Nikolay Davydenko |
| 2010 | Andy Murray |
| 2011 | Andy Murray (2) |
| 2012 | Novak Djokovic |
| 2013 | Novak Djokovic (2) |
| 2014 | Roger Federer |
| 2015 | Novak Djokovic (3) |
| 2016 | Andy Murray (3) |
| 2017 | Roger Federer (2) |
| 2018 | Novak Djokovic (4) |
| 2019 | Daniil Medvedev |
| 2020-2022 | No tournament held |
| 2023 | Hubert Hurkacz |
| 2024 | Jannik Sinner |
| 2025 | Valentin Vacherot |
No player has been able to defend the Shanghai Masters title since then, with four new champions in the last four editions at the tournament.
Vacherot will be hoping to change this in 2026, as he now looks ahead to his next match against 15th seed Tommy Paul, who he has never played before.
