Over more than thirty years, lower-ranked players have triumphed at the Masters tournaments, creating legendary moments.

Recently, Monaco’s Vacherot overturned the odds to defeat French player Lindgren in the Shanghai Masters final, securing his maiden Masters championship. It’s worth mentioning that he is the lowest-ranked winner in the history of the Masters. Yet, starting from 1993, five other players with low rankings have claimed Masters titles over the past thirty years. Let’s explore who these five players are in this article.

In 1993, an unheralded Swedish player, Peinov, appeared at the Montreal Masters. In the first round, he defeated South African qualifier M. Kaplan in straight sets; in the second round, he swept past Australian Stoltenberg; in the third round, he faced the tournament’s second seed, American Courier. That year, Courier won his second Australian Open title. However, Peinov limited Courier to just five games throughout the match and advanced to the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals, he dominated Russian Volkov, continuing his deep run; in the semifinals, Peinov defeated Czech player Petr Korda, who had reached the French Open final; in the final, he faced American Todd Martin. In that match, Peinov lost the first set but rallied to win the next two sets and claim the title. At that time, Peinov was ranked 95th, becoming the first low-ranked player to win a Masters championship.

In 1996, Spanish player Carretero won three consecutive matches in the Hamburg Masters qualifiers to reach the main draw. He then defeated compatriot Arese, followed by victories over American Washington, French Birch, Austrian G. Schaller, Russian Kafelnikov, and fellow Spaniard Cretega, earning his first Masters title. Notably, he was the first qualifier ever to win a Masters event since the tournament’s inception. When he won, Carretero was ranked 143rd.

In 2022, Cilic, who had previously reached a Masters final, competed in the Cincinnati Masters to protect his ranking. In the first round, he defeated Italian qualifier Musetti, who had just won his first career tour title; in the second round, Cilic battled through three sets to overcome Spanish player Nadal, who had just secured his fourteenth French Open crown. This victory greatly boosted Cilic’s confidence.

Following that, Cilic consecutively defeated Spanish player Alguet, who had once reached the Wimbledon semifinals; Canadian player Auger-Aliassime, a former US Open semifinalist; British player Norrie, who had just made his first Grand Slam semifinal; and Greek player Tsitsipas, who had recently reached his first Grand Slam final, ultimately winning his first Masters title. At the time of his victory, Cilic was ranked 152nd globally.

Last season, Popyrin won his first Masters title at the Montreal Open by defeating Czech player Machac, American Shelton, Bulgarian Dimitrov (a former year-end finals champion), Polish Hurkacz (a Masters champion), American Korda, and Russian Rublev (a two-time Masters winner).

Although his world ranking was only 62 when he won, making him a lower-ranked champion, Popyrin’s ranking was still notably higher than those of the previously mentioned players. That concludes today’s tennis story; more to come tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Yixin Jushi)