ATP Tokyo Final Preview: Arthur Fils vs. Ugo Humbert

Two years ago, the Japan Open finished with an all-American final between Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe. This year, a pair of Frenchmen have taken over Tokyo: 26-year-old Ugo Humbert, a native of Metz, will face 20-year-old Arthur Fils, who was born in Bondoufle, south of Paris.

The biggest difference between the two is age: Humbert is 26, Fils is 20. Otherwise, they’ve had similar 2024 seasons, and find themselves in similar positions on the ATP totem pole.

Humbert is 32-20 this year, ranked 19th, and has won two titles—both on hard courts, in Dubai and Marseille—early in the season. In Dubai in February, he beat Gael Monfils, Andy Murray, Hubert Hurkacz and Daniil Medvedev, and looked like he might be ready for a long-awaited breakout year. But that proved to be his peak; he’s made just one semifinal since.

Fils is 31-23 in 2024, ranked 24th, and has won one title, on clay, in Hamburg. In theat final, he beat defending champion Alexander Zverev 7-6 in the third. Like Humbert, Fils probably had grander hopes for his season when it began. And also like Humbert, now he has a chance to make good on those ambitions by putting another 500-level title on his résumé.

The two countrymen have played three times, and Humbert has won all three. That includes two straight-set wins this season: one on grass, one on hard court. Humbert’s lefty serve, and his ability to take the ball on the rise and hit it flat and through the court, especially with his backhand, has worked well against Fils’ more topspin-heavy baseline attack. Maybe his status as the older-French-brother in their relationship has helped as well.

Even more promising for Humbert is his 6-0 record in finals. He’s a low-margin, hot-and-cold hitter, but once he gets on a roll, he tends to stay on it all the way through.

Can Fils derail him, and get his first win over his compatriot? The younger man has had a banner week, beating top seed Fritz, No. 8 seed Ben Shelton and No. 6 seed Holger Rune. The win over Rune, in two tiebreakers that went to 10-8 and 12-0, respectively, was especially impressive. Fils survived set points in both, and he ended the match with one of the shots of the tournament, a forehand pass that he hit while running back from the net to the baseline.

“It’s the best passing I ever hit in my whole life, man,” Fils said. “It went so good out of my racquet.”

The only problem is what happened just before Fils took that winning swing.

“When I went to the passing [shot], I got big cramps in the quads and I said to myself, ‘OK, I need to win this one because otherwise I don’t know how I’m going to do it.’”

Will Fils be able to recover fully, in less than 24 hours, from a match where he was pushed to the point of cramping? He also won a marathon over Shelton in the quarters, 7-6 in the third. He may have to hope that Humbert, who was forced to a third set by Tomas Machac in his semifinal, will feel a little weary, too.

“For now I’ve never beat him, so I’m going to come on the court as an underdog,” Fils says. “We like this position, especially in the final. So let’s see how it [will] go.”

Winner: Humbert