Arthur Fils became the second-youngest champion in the history of the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships on Tuesday at the age of 20 years and three months.
In an all-French final, Arthur Fils came from behind to beat compatriot Ugo Humbert 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-3 in three hours and four minutes, even saving a match point in the second set despite suffering physical discomfort.
“Honestly, I don’t know how [I turned it around],” admitted Fils, who had physical problems in his left leg for much of the second set. “After 5-5 in the first set, I was dead on the court. He was playing unbelievable. It was a very tough first set. I had a lot of break points, but I couldn’t capitalize on them. He’s a great champion, and it was very tough.”
“I gave everything in the second set and saved a match point. In tennis, everything can turn around in a second, and it happened. So I’m very happy, but today I could have lost,” he added.
The #NextGenATP Frenchman won his second ATP 500 title of the season, after winning last July on the Hamburg clay, something only Jannik Sinner has achieved this year (Rotterdam and Halle). Although the Italian is aiming for his third trophy at this level in Beijing, they share the privilege of being the only two to have repeated at the ATP 500 in 2024.
In addition to consolidating his lead in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, which grants access to the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, the young Frenchman boosted his confidence in a week in which he managed to beat four Top 20 opponents in the same tournament for the first time.
Fils went on to defeat No. 7 Taylor Fritz (first round), No. 17 Ben Shelton (quarter-finals), No. 14 Holger Rune (semi-finals), and No. 19 Humbert (final) in Tokyo. He is the first Frenchman to achieve a feat of this magnitude since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the ATP Masters 1000 in Toronto ten years ago.
The Japanese capital hosted two Frenchmen in the final of this tournament for the first time in its history. Not since Auckland 2020, where Humbert defeated Benoit Paire to claim his first trophy, has the ATP Tour seen a final between two French players.
Humbert, who led their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 3-0 before the final, used the confidence of his record against Fils to take an early lead in the match. However, it was the #NextGenATP player who struck first. In the fifth game, Fils found his first break opportunities and converted one to go ahead 3-2. Humbert responded immediately to restore order. At 6-5, Humbert secured another break to win the first set.
The older of the two contenders waited patiently for his moment. First, it came in the eighth game. Trailing 4-3, he had three break points at 0/40 on Fils’ serve, but couldn’t convert. Fils refused to surrender and fought to force a tie-break. Once in the tie-break, where he had shown his best form in the semi-finals, he saved a match point and stayed in the fight for victory.
With 10 aces and having won 80% of points on his first serve, Fils grew stronger in the final set, breaking in the eighth game to eventually close out his second title of the year and third of his career.
For his part, Humbert lost an ATP Tour final after having won the title in the first six of his career. In doing so, he left his record at 6-0, a mark he shares with two other players, Ernests Gulbis and Martin Klizan.
Arthur Fils’ win in Tokyo is a proud moment for us at Tennium. Watching him lift the trophy after such a hard-fought battle shows exactly what he’s made of. It’s been an incredible journey so far, and this latest victory is just the beginning of many more triumphs to come. We’re celebrating right alongside you, Arthur!
