ATP Tour

Vacherot completes dramatic Fils win in Tokyo: 'That's tennis'

Valentin Vacherot produced another remarkable comeback on Sunday at the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships, where he overcame former champion Arthur Fils 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals.

Vacherot found himself a break down in the first and third sets, but responded by reeling off four consecutive games in each to complete a dramatic two-hour, 20-minute victory at the ATP 500 event. The 27-year-old Monegasque, who recovered from a set-and-break deficit against Stefanos Tsitsipas in his second-round match, is now into his third ATP Tour semi-final.

“I believed and turned it around in the first set. Then, in the third, I was a bit more positive that I could break him back because I was at 30/30 in a lot of his service games,” Vacherot, who is now 5-5 against Top-10 players, said. “Maybe he should have won one of the first or third sets, but I won both of them. That's tennis. That’s the beauty.”

With Fils serving to stay in the match at 4-5 in the final set, Vacherot fired two consecutive return winners before outlasting the Frenchman in two extended rallies to break and seal the win. It was a fitting way to close out the contest and one that perfectly captured Vacherot’s resilience this week.

Vacherot enjoyed a fairytale run during last year’s Asian hard-court swing, when the No. 204-ranked qualifier surged to the Shanghai title to become the lowest-ranked ATP Masters 1000 champion in series history (since 1990). Although he will drop 1,000 points ahead of his title defence next week in Shanghai, Vacherot has climbed four places to No. 14 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings as he chases his Top-10 debut.

For Fils, the defeat represents a setback in his bid to make his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals. The 22-year-old Frenchman is seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, but eighth-placed Daniil Medvedev and ninth-placed Alex de Minaur remain alive in Beijing and can still apply pressure.

View the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin

Despite winning the title in Tokyo in 2024 and reaching a career-high World No. 9 this week, Fils had to come through qualifying this year after missing the entry deadline. He defeated Luca Van Assche and Frances Tiafoe to reach the quarter-finals.

Vacherot, who will face Jiri Lehecka next, is one of just two seeded players remaining in the Tokyo draw. A potential final against defending champion Carlos Alcaraz is also on the cards after the top seed advanced when Denis Shapovalov retired earlier on Sunday.

Lehecka closed quarter-final action on Sunday by easing past Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 6-1, 6-1 in just 58 minutes to reach his 14th ATP Tour semi-final, and third of the season. Vacherot won their only previous Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting at the Masters 1000 event in Paris last year.