Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas said his father was so nervous he couldn't work and his mother was running around the house as they watched their son upend the great Roger Federer at the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday.

In by far the biggest upset of his career, the 70th-ranked left-hander shocked the defending champion and world number three 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 6-3 at the Qi Zhong Stadium, far away from the family home in Spain.

Afterwards the 27-year-old said he received floods of messages from friends and family who were watching the match unfold.

"My father was working. He stopped working because he was very nervous. My mother was also at home running around the home alone," Ramos-Vinolas said.

"I just spoke with my girlfriend, my father, my mother, my fitness coach, my other coach who is travelling when Jose is not coming. Now at night I will try to answer all the messages," he added.

Ramos-Vinolas has never won a tournament on the men's tour and has only ever come out on top of three Grand Slam matches -- compared to Federer's record-breaking 17 major titles.

The Barcelona-born player also celebrated his first victory over a top 10 opponent. In their only previous meeting, at Wimbledon 2012, Federer was a convincing 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 winner.

"Before the match I thought I'm not going to win. But when I saw how I was playing, it was not the same as Wimbledon," he said. "It was my first Wimbledon.  I didn't feel comfortable during the match.

"But here, when I saw that we were very, very similar during the first set, I thought, 'Okay, maybe I can do a good match.'

"But after the second set, I thought was not possible because he was serving so good. He was winning very easy the games on his serve.

"But... at the end after the break, I thought, Okay, maybe I can do it. Let's try to be concentrate. I won the match."

Source: AFP