Novak Djokovic booked his place in the Shanghai Masters semi-finals for a 10th time on Thursday, defeating Belgium’s Zizou Bergs 6-3 7-5 in a hard-fought encounter under testing conditions. The win sets up a semi-final clash with world number 204 Valentin Vacherot, the tournament’s breakout star.
Despite the straight-sets scoreline, Djokovic was pushed throughout by the spirited Bergs, who actually struck more winners than the fourth seed but was undone by a string of unforced errors.
“First encounter with Bergs, a great guy. Obviously a lot of firepower in his game. He played a good game,” said Djokovic afterwards. “Again, I was a little bit too passive. Just very challenging conditions these days for all the players. Just trying to stay alive on the court and glad to overcome this hurdle.”
Bergs showed impressive resilience in the first set, saving five set points before Djokovic finally clinched it with an unreturned serve. The second set saw both players elevate their level, producing long rallies that had the crowd on its feet and Djokovic hunched over his racquet in exhaustion.
The standout moment came during a spectacular rally in which Bergs had five chances to win the point at the net, but Djokovic somehow turned defence into attack to steal it. The Serbian eventually closed out the match on his third match point.
He now faces Valentin Vacherot, who continued his astonishing run by upsetting 10th seed Holger Rune 2-6 7-6(4) 6-4. The Monegasque qualifier becomes the second-lowest ranked player ever to reach an ATP Masters semi-final and will break into the world’s top 100 for the first time next week.
“I didn’t even come as a qualifier, I came as an alternate. I wasn’t sure to even play the qualifier,” Vacherot revealed. “Coming back from six months out is always not easy. You cannot just come back and win tournaments right and left. You’ve just got to fight your way through a little bit.”
The 25-year-old’s journey appeared in doubt early on as Rune dominated the opening set, with Vacherot visibly struggling and describing his condition as “lungs were screaming”. But momentum shifted in the second-set tiebreak, where he edged ahead with a brilliant backhand crosscourt winner and levelled the match soon after.
With Rune needing treatment twice in the third set, Vacherot held firm to complete a memorable victory in just under three hours.
“It would mean a lot to play at least one of the guys of the ‘Big Three’ in my career,” Vacherot said. That wish will now come true as he prepares to face Djokovic in Saturday’s semi-final.
His cousin, Arthur Rinderknech, is also enjoying a strong run in Shanghai and is set to play Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime in Friday’s quarter-final.
