By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday September 30, 2024
Arthur Fils edged Holger Rune to reach his second ATP 500 final in Tokyo. Ugo Humbert will be waiting for him in the final.
Photo Source: TTV
20-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fils reached his second ATP 500 final of 2024 and became the third youngest finalist in Tokyo history on Monday, defeating Holger Rune in a spirited straight sets battle, 7-6(8), 7-6(10).
He will face France's Ugo Humbert in the final.
Only Jimmy Arias (1982) and Juan Martin del Potro (2008) have reached the Tokyo final at a younger age than Fils.
In a wild encounter that featured two tight tiebreaks, Fils saved a set point in the first set breaker, and another three in the second set tiebreak before converting his fourth match point to defeat Rune in two hours and 23 minutes.
24th-ranked Fils reaches his fourth ATP final and earns his third Top-20 win of the week over 14th-ranked Rune. He has also defeated Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton this week in Tokyo.
He finished the clash with an electric forehand passing shot, then fell to the court in exhaustion.
“It’s the best passing [shots] I ever hit in my whole life, man,” he said, admitting that he was close to cramping at the conclusion of his win.
Fils will take an 0-3 record into Tuesday’s final against Humbert, who got past Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
“It feels good. It was not my best match this week, but I still have the win so I’m very proud of that,” Humbert said.
Impressively, Humbert has won all six ATP finals he has played. He’s bidding for his third ATP 500 title. He’s just the third man in the Open Era to win their first six ATP finals in a row after Ernests Gulbis and Martin Klizan. No ATP player has ever won his first seven finals.
Humbert has won all four sets he has played against Fils in 2024, and six of seven overall, but the pair have never met beyond the round of 16 of any event.
“It’s amazing. For now I’ve never beat him, so I’m going to come on the court as an underdog,” Fils said.