Expert picks are back for a simply hard-to-believe final showdown at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. It has been a dream week for first cousins Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot. A two-team panel makes its predictions.
Ricky: Rinderknech vs. Vacherot would have been entirely nondescript first-round match in Shanghai. Two weeks later, it is a championship match about which the tennis world is writing epic sonnets. Well…we’re at least doing expert picks for it. The cousins (their moms are sisters) and former Texas A&M teammates will square off in the biggest match of their lives on Sunday.
Rinderknech, 30, is obviously the far more accomplished player. However, you can pretty much throw rankings, results, and all other statistics out the window for this matchup. It’s all about how each guy handles the moment. Still, I favor Rinderknech due to his experience and his extended run of impressive tennis. The 54th-ranked Frenchman is 12-3 in his last 15 matches dating back to the U.S. Open. For Vacherot, who is No. 204 in the world, this run has come entirely out of nowhere. That being said, the 26-year-old from Monaco cannot be discounted given how well he handled a Masters 1000 semifinal against Novak Djokovic (6-3, 6-4 on Saturday). I’m not sure this will be the highest-quality match under these fascinating circumstances, but it should be extremely entertaining. Rinderknech in 3: 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3.
Cheryl: I’m quite certain I’ve never had occasion to say “tennis cousins” in an official capacity before. Yet here we are–with the most unlikely Masters final probably of all time on deck in Shanghai with a pair of cousins squaring off for 1000 ranking points. The inclusion of No. 54 Arthur Rinderknech in Sunday’s final would be notable enough–he played a pair of Challenger events just this year and has never won an ATP Tour title.
But Valentin Valerot? Well…to give you some perspective on his prior obscurity, as recently as two days ago his “Bio” page on the ATP website was blank (it has since been populated with a few blurbs about Texas A&M and his ability to speak French fluently). And yet, the world No. 204 has been quite literally brilliant this fortnight. Every player in his path except Laslo Djere in the first round was seeded. Every single one–ncluding top-10 player Holger Rune and the GOAT himself, Novak Djokovic. A Vacherot victory on Sunday would be the sort of fairytale ending this tournament deserves…. But I don’t see it happening. Rinderknech is the more experienced and seasoned player, and he’s less likely to take a series of medical timeouts as Djokovic did in the semis. Cheryl pick: Rinderknech in 3: 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
who ya got?