Valentin Vacherot, the shock winner of the Shanghai Masters, has been given a wild card for the ATP Basel tournament and has also asked to be allowed into the Paris Masters main draw.
The Basel tournament organisers, whose event runs from 20–26 October, said fans would get to see “one of the biggest surprises of the season” thanks to the wild card.
On Sunday, Vacherot beat his cousin, Arthur Rinderknech, in the Shanghai final. Ranked just 204 in the world at the time, he became the lowest-ranked player ever to win an ATP 1000 title.
Now ranked 40, the 26-year-old from Monaco has formally requested a spot in the Paris Masters, which starts on 27 October.
He wasn’t high enough in the rankings to qualify automatically for either Basel or Paris when the entry lists were finalised.
“Two weeks ago, to be honest, not many people had heard of him,” said Paris Masters director and former world number five Cedric Pioline.
“Now everyone knows his name, he’s made a huge leap in the rankings and is definitely on the map.”
Vacherot’s cousin Rinderknech, who lost to him in Shanghai, will also need a wild card to get into the Paris main draw.
Alongside the four main-draw wild cards, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) will hand out four more invitations for the qualifying rounds on 25–26 October.
