When Valentin Vacherot arrived at the Shanghai Masters two weeks ago, he was ranked 204th in the world and did not even have a place in the tournament.
On Sunday, the 26-year-old qualifier did not just make history as the first Monegasque player to win an ATP title, as well as the lowest-ranked Masters champion of all time. The winner’s cheque of £824,000 was more than double his previous career earnings of £380,000.