TOKYO will get a taste of French culture in the Japan Open Tennis Championships after both of France’s remaining players won through to the ATP 500 final overnight. Ugo Humbert and Arthur Fils will face off in the decider tonight at the Colosseum after both survived tight matches on the Asian hardcourts.

Humbert was up first and knocked off Czech Tomas Machac in a momentum-swinging three-set match, 6-3 3-6 6-2. The 19th ranked talent from Metz won in the pair’s first meeting that took an hour and 46 minutes.

In the second match of the night, Fils only needed the two sets to defeat top ranked remaining player Holger Rune, but both went to epic tiebreakers with Fils winning 10-8 and 12-10 in the respective sets for a 7-6 7-6 triumph. The contest took two hours and 23 minutes.

Humbert and Machac were even in the third set at two games apiece, before the former stormed home with four consecutive games to take the set, and the match. He moved through to his seventh ATP Tour final, where he is yet to lose one with a 6-0 record to-date. He is also aiming for his third title of the year after wins in Marseille and Dubai.

“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 post-match. “It was not easy. I had difficulties in the second set, but in the end, I found the solution and stayed calm. I’m into my seventh ATP Tour final, so I’m very happy.

“It was not easy, because he didn’t allow a lot of rhythm… At the end of the second set, I tried to speak to myself a little bit. After, the last four games were amazing.”

Humbert served eight aces to five and won an impressive 79 and 62 per cent of his first and second serve points, while converting three of eight break point chances as Machac only managed the one in the second set.

Meanwhile 24th ranked Fils – from Bondoufle just south of Paris – edged ahead in his head-to-head record against Rune, winning for the second time in 2024, after the Dane retired in their earlier clash in Hamburg.

In that match, there was not much between the players with one break apiece and both winning above 70 per cent of their first serve points. Rune had seven aces to five and won three more points than Fils, but the Frenchman was able to come up clutch when it counted in the tiebreaker.