Arthur Rinderknech defeats Felix Auger-Aliassim to advance to Shanghai SF | ATP Tour

match report

Rinderknech continues dream journey, beats Auger-Aliassim to reach Shanghai SF

The Frenchman makes it to the top 20 for the third consecutive time

October 10, 2025

Arthur Rinderknech notched the biggest win of his career at the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Friday, surpassing Felix Auger-Aliassim to reach the semi-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 for the first time.

Lindeknych defeated world number three Alexander Zverev and world number 19 Jiri Lehka to reach the Masters 1000m quarter-finals for the first time, but ensured his journey would not end against world number 13 Auger-Aliassime. The Frenchman displayed quality aggressive striking and ended the match in authoritative fashion, sealing the victory with a 6-3, 6-4 advantage on the second match point after 87 minutes.

After the victory, Lindeknych raised his arms in the air and looked at his cousin Valentin Vachero, who will play Novak Djokovic in Saturday’s semifinals. Read more about The couple’s story is here.

“It’s huge. First of all, I followed my cousin,” said Lindeknech, referring to qualifier Vaccello, who is on the verge of cracking the top 100 after becoming the first Monegasque player to reach a tour semifinal. “He was going through an emotional change on Thursday and I was trying to follow him and fight with him and do the same thing. It’s been unbelievable since the game started.

“The whole family is following from home. We live in our own little world here. It’s just unbelievable and I performed well myself today and I’m happy to get it in straight sets so I’m not too tired tomorrow.”

Rinderknech has moved up 17 spots to No. 37 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings and will reach a career-high on Monday. The 30-year-old, who has three consecutive top-20 wins, is the third Frenchman to reach the semifinals in Shanghai, joining Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (’15, 2013) and Gilles Simon (’14, ’16). Lindeknych will next face either Alex De Minaur or Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals.

Auger-Aliassime had lost serve just once in the entire match before meeting Lindeknech, but was broken twice against the Frenchman. The Canadian created a chance on Lindknecht’s serve in the first set, making two unforced errors on his forehand and double-faulting. The 30-year-old seized his chance and broke serve with a forehand pass to finish the first set cleanly, hitting nine winners on his first set point and making only three unforced errors.

The 30-year-old continued to play on the front foot in the second set and fought hard on serve, crucially saving three break points at 2-1, 0/40 to maintain the break advantage. According to Infosys ATP statistics, he hit 20 winners in the match and scored 85% of his first-serve points, improving his record to 1-2 in the Lexus ATP series against Auger-Aliassime.

Lindeknech is excited to join his cousin Vaccello in the Final Four and opened up after this week’s game.

“I felt a lot of pressure the whole match yesterday,” said Lindeknech, who watched from the sidelines as Vaccello defeated Holger Rooney in three sets. “I’m not used to watching players play on the pitch and I really want him to win. I’m under a lot of pressure but I don’t want to show anything. I don’t want to put pressure on him. It was much calmer for me on the pitch today.”

Vaccello was in the guest box at Lindknecht and said afterward: “It’s really nice that it’s happening here. I was thinking yesterday that maybe it would be special to be closer to home so maybe have some family come or something. But I think we’re just in our little bubble with my brother, my coach, and he’s helping my girlfriend Arthur as well. There’s not a lot of us and I think we’re doing our thing in our little bubble. So I’m really happy that it’s happening here and we’re having a lot of fun together.”

Texas A&M coach Steve Denton was up early and headed back to College Station to watch two of his former players play.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these two guys as their college coach,” Denton said. “It was a dream week for both of them, and it’s a testament to what college tennis can do for young players if they both commit and believe in the process of trying to improve. Obviously, they’re feeding off each other’s energy and you can really see the joy they have playing, just like they had when they were at Texas A&M. I’ve always believed that both of them were going to make it in the end. Isn’t it ironic that they did it in the same week?”

For Auger-Aliassime, the Canadian left Shanghai in 10th place heading into the PIF ATP Live event in Turin. The 25-year-old is 530 points behind eighth-placed Lorenzo Musetti, who reached the final qualification spot for the Nitto ATP Finals.