Six finals on the ATP circuit, as many victories: this was the balance of Ugo Humbert, 19 years oldmy world, upon entering the court in Tokyo, on Tuesday the 1stAhem October. But Arthur Fils put an end to this incredible series, defeating Messin in three sets (5-7, 7-6, 6-3) in this 100% French duel.
Buoyed by his victories this season in Marseille (February) and then in Dubai (March), Ugo Humbert had a smooth ride in Japan, easily beating local Shintaro Mochizuki and American Brandon Nakashima before benefiting from the pack of beaten Briton Jack Draper . on an elbow. In the semifinal, against the Czech Tomas Machac, the 26-year-old left-hander needed three sets, but ended up taking the advantage thanks to his serve.
Arturo Jr. (24my) arrived exhausted after a series of great performances on the hard indoor court in Tokyo. The Ile-de-France native defeated two of the best Americans on the circuit, Taylor Fritz, 7my world and recent finalist of the US Open, then holder of the title, the American Ben Shelton (17my), in the quarterfinals, before facing the Danish Holger Rune in the next round (14my). The 20-year-old from Courcouronnes (Essonne) also faced another challenge: in four matches he had never beaten Ugo Humbert.
Changing the offensive dynamic
He also started the match better, showing himself authoritative on serve, with aces from the first games. Arthur Fils briefly took control of the set, taking advantage of his opponent’s momentary errors (3-2) to break it before letting his shot escape with three double faults (3-3). Messin then claimed a shutout to go 4-3, but was caught by the Parisian (4-4), more precise in his first balls and more incisive on the right, which allowed him to continue maintaining the score (5-5) . Arthur Fils ended up giving up the set (7-5), after an hour of play.
The second hour of the game rewarded the cadet, despite a slump and discomfort in his left ankle. Arthur Fils picked up the points on the fly and erased three break points to return to 4-4, then signed a shutout to tie (5-5). He earned a tie-break, his opponent’s first of the tournament, before his renewed form allowed him to save a match point, with an aerial shot, and then take the set at the end of a very close tie-break ( 8-6). .
The offensive dynamic had changed. Carried away by his dazzling return, Arthur Fils was
from then on the most enterprising and the most precise, chaining, in turn, the aces. He conceded a first break point, in the sixth game (3-3), which Ugo Humbert denied thanks to a sequence of forehand serves along the line.
Two games later, he found fault on a crosscourt backhand, before finishing with a service winner after three hours, thus offering himself the third title of his career on the professional circuit, after the Open Parc de Lyon (250), in May 2023., and another ATP 500 tournament, in Hamburg (Germany), in July.
This Tokyo final is, in any case, good news for French tennis, which this season has not had any representative in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament and that the French team has just been eliminated by Spain in the Davis Cup.
