ATP Rankings: Carlos Alcaraz’s lead over Sinner increases, Valentin Vacherot +164, Arthur Rinderknech +26
Carlos Alcaraz didn’t feature at the Shanghai Masters, but he still managed to open a sizable lead over Jannik Sinner, but Valentin Vacherot and Arthur Rinderknech were the stars of the show at the ATP Masters 1000 event.
Before the penultimate Masters event of the year, world No 1 Alcaraz had a 590-point advantage over second-placed Sinner, but that has nearly tripled as he now holds a 1,340-point lead following the Italian’s early exit.
Alcaraz withdrew from the tournament and dropped 200 points as he reached the quarter-final last year, but with his big rival retiring during his third-round clash due to injury, there was a big swing as Sinner dropped 950 points following his title run 12 months ago.
But all is not lost for the four-time Grand Slam winner in terms of the year-end No 1 ranking, as he can still close the gap at the Vienna Open and Paris Masters.
Alcaraz, meanwhile, only has two events remaining, and those tournaments are the Paris Masters and ATP Finals.
Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz and Novak Djokovic complete the top five, but they all failed to outperform their results from 2024 with Alex de Minaur and Lorenzo Musetti the only two in the top 10 to move up.
Daniil Medvedev was the big winner in the top 20 as he finally found some form again after his recent struggles, reaching the semi-final in Shanghai before being stunned by Rinderknech.
The 2021 US Open winner’s run to the last four was good enough to move up four places to No 14.
But Shanghai was all about cousins Vacherot and Rinderknech following their dream final.
World No 204 Vacherot won nine matches as he came through qualifying and then beat a host of big-name players – including 10th seed Holger Rune in the quarter-final and tennis great Novak Djokovic in the semi-final – to reach his maiden final.
ATP Features
Cousins Valentin Vacherot and Arthur Rinderknech’s prize money and points from Shanghai
He then defeated his cousin Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the showpiece match to become the first Monagasque player to win an ATP Masters 1000 title.
With the win, he not only cracked the top 100, but the top 50 as he surged 164 places to No 40 while Rinderknech jumped 26 places to No 28.
When told he is now No 40 in the rankings, Vacherot replied: “40? Wonderful. (Laughing). No, but, yeah, as I said, I still had the little goal before coming here to be top 100 before the end of the season.
“So I knew that it was going to take so much, because we know how hard it is to even win one Challenger. So I knew that if I wanted to be top 100 before the end of the season I had to win a few.
“It’s pretty crazy to say, but even this summer I had this tournament in my mind. I knew it was the biggest tournament before the end of the season that I will have my chance to get into with now the big draws in the qualifications.
“I knew I had a chance to get into it, and if I wanted to reach my goal of top 100 I had to do good here. Little did I know that’s what I would be doing here, I mean, yeah, it’s amazing.”
ATP Rankings Top 20
1. Carlos Alcaraz Spain – 11,340 points
2. Jannik Sinner Italy – 10,000
3. Alexander Zverev Germany – 5,930
4. Taylor Fritz United States – 4,645
5. Novak Djokovic Serbia – 4,580
6. Ben Shelton United States – 4,100
7. Alex de Minaur Australia – 3,935
8. Lorenzo Musetti Italy – 3,645 (+1)
9. Jack Draper Great Britain – 3,590 (-2)
10. Karen Khachanov – 3,190
11. Holger Rune Denmark – 3,090
12. Casper Ruud Norway – 2,945
13. Felix Auger-Aliassime Canada – 2,905
14. Daniil Medvedev – 2,610 (+4)
15. Andrey Rublev – 2,560 (-1)
16. Alexander Bublik Kazakhstan – 2,430 (+1)
17. Jiri Lehecka Czech Republic – 2,415 (+2)
18. Tommy Paul United States – 2,360 (-3)
19. Jakub Mensik Czech Republic – 2,265 (-3)
20. Alejandro Davidovic Fokina Spain – 2,260
