By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Arthur Fils saved championship point at 5-6 in the tiebreaker subduing Ugo Humbert 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-3 to win his third career title in Tokyo.
Photo credit: Kenta Harada/Getty
Hobbled by a cranky ankle, Arthur Fils faced match point in the second-set tiebreaker.
On the ledge of loss, Fils was ready for launch.
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A running backhand bolt rocketed Fils to the biggest comeback of his career.
In the first all-French ATP final since 2020, Fils fought off a championship point and Ugo Humbert 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-3 in a pulsating Tokyo title match.
The 20-year-old Fils is the youngest man to raise the Tokyo title trophy since an 18-year-old Jimmy Arias won Tokyo in 1982.
"I'm very happy about the tennis I'm producing," Fils said. "Honestly, I'm working a lot. I'm trying to build a lot my tennis. And I think now it's better and better from Hamburg to here and I still have to improve but it's cool."
A calm Fils spoiled his Davis Cup teammates shot at seventh-heaven history.
Humbert was one point away from making history as the first man in the Open Era to win his first seven ATP Finals when he served for the title at 6-5 in the tiebreaker.
Fils, who initially injured his left ankle in a 7-5, 6-7, 7-6 quarterfinal conquest of Ben Shelton, wasn’t finished.
Sprinting sideline to sideline, Fils spun a Djokovic-esque running backhand pass down the line to save championship and spark a three-point run that saw him steal the second-set tiebreaker and force a decider.
Fils, who was 0-3 lifetime vs. Humbert, is the first Frenchman to win Tokyo since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2009.
After an exchange of early breaks, the drama escalated at the end of the opening set.
Clad in identical orange-and-black Lacoste outfits, the pair were pushing each other around the baseline.
Deadlocked at 5-all, Humbert made a determined stand saving three break points in a draining 11th game to hold for 6-5.
Fils, who was bothered by a left leg issue at times, fell into a love-15 hold in the following game. Driving the ball down the line, Humbert broke at 15 to seal the opening set.
Leaning over between points, Fils looked depleted as he stared down triple break point in the eighth game of the second set.
The 20-year-old Fils dug down deep and fought off all three break points, sparking a six-point run as he held to even the set after eight games.
The left-handed Humbert continued to hurt his compatriot with the slider serve wide on the ad side. Humbert torched the wide serve to hold at 30 for 5-4.
Hamburg champion Fils brought the fire on serve, slamming two aces, in holding at 30 to force the second-set tiebreaker.
Humbert drew successive errors earning championship point on his serve at 6-5 in the breaker.
Running in a desperate sideline-to-sideline sprint, Fils fired a fantastic backhand pass on the sprint to save championship point.
That tremendous strike sparked Fils, who drew two errors to steal the tiebreaker 8-6 and force a final set.
Fils was the aggressor in the final set.
Though Humbert saved a break point in his opening service game, the Fils forehand was doing damage throughout the set.
Fils broke for 5-3 and served out his third career title completing a wondrous week that saw him beat Taylor Fritz, Matteo Berrettini, Ben Shelton, Holger Run and the previously undefeated finalist Humbert in a rousing run.