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Shanghai star Vacherot requests Paris Masters invite after Basel wild card / Photo: © AFP
NYSE - LSE
Shanghai star Vacherot requests Paris Masters invite after Basel wild card
Surprise Shanghai champion Valentin Vacherot on Tuesday received a wild card for the ATP Basel tournament and has submitted a request to enter the main draw at the Paris Masters.
"Thanks to a wild card spectators will have the opportunity to see one of the biggest sensations of the season," organisers of the Swiss indoor tournament scheduled for October 20-26 announced.
On Sunday, Vacherot beat his cousin Arthur Rinderknech to win the Shanghai Masters, becoming at world number 204 the lowest-ranked player to win an ATP 1000 tournament.
Paris Masters director Cedric Pioline confirmed that the 26-year-old Monegasque, now ranked 40, had submitted an invitation request for the tournament in the French capital which starts on October 27.
Vacherot did not have a ranking that would allow him to directly enter the main draw in Basel, nor the ninth and final Masters 1000 of the season, when the list of participants was finalised.
"Two weeks ago, with all due respect, not many people knew him," said Pioline, himself a former world number five.
"Now, I think he has a name that speaks, that's in the news, he's identifiable," in addition to having made "a stratospheric leap" in the ATP rankings.
His victim in the Shanghai final, his French cousin Rinderknech, "will also need an invitation" to directly enter the main draw, Pioline pointed out.
In addition to the four wild cards for the main draw the French Tennis Federation (FFT) also plans to award four invitations to the qualifiers on October 25 and 26.
I.Wroblewski--GL
