Laslo Djere has had a solid season in terms of rebuilding his ranking, securing a spot inside the top 100 after an injury-plagued 2024. The main concern, however, is that most of his wins have come on his preferred clay surface. His form and fitness have been inconsistent throughout the year, making his results unpredictable and suggesting he may not yet be at his peak physical level.
This promises to be a challenging campaign for the Serbian, as he arrives without any recent match practice on hard courts. In fact, he has played very little tennis in recent months, having skipped several events and taken a break following a three-set loss to the underdog Ignacio Buse in the first round in Gstaad during the July clay swing.
Djere has yet to play a main-draw match on tour-level hard courts this year, and he has never won a match at the Shanghai Masters. He previously competed in this tournament in 2023, falling in the first round to Rinky Hijikata.
Valentin Vacherot made his Shanghai Masters debut earlier this week, delivering two impressive fighting performances to defeat Nishesh Basavareddy and Liam Draxl, both after dropping the first set, to secure his place in the main draw. Continuing this strong qualifying run with one more win in the main draw would see Vacherot return to the top 200.
The 26-year-old’s most recent main-draw appearance on the tour also came at a Masters event in Monte Carlo earlier this year, where he entered with a wildcard and impressed by dominating Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round and taking a set off Grigor Dimitrov in the second. That win over Struff was the only time he has ever cleared the first-round hurdle on the main tour in six attempts.
Head-to-head: 0-0. Transitioning and adapting to Asian conditions is always challenging, and for someone like Laslo Djere, who has not played much tennis in recent months, this will be a significant test. He is expected to face plenty of difficulties against Valentin Vacherot, who has already acclimated to the conditions in Shanghai.
