Tokyo draw: Taylor Fritz meets Arthur Fils | ATP Tour

Match preview

Tokyo draw: Fritz meets Fils, Turin learns opponent

ATP 500 hard court event starts on Wednesday

23 September 2024

Number one seed Taylor Fritz will face #NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils in a thrilling first-round match at the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships, with several stars looking to go deep to boost their Nitto ATP Finals hopes.

The American is a former champion of the ATP 500 in Tokyo and won the trophy there in 2022. The 26-year-old, who reached the final of the US Open earlier this month, comes to Tokyo as fifth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin.

If Fritz beats Fils, he could play former top-10 star Matteo Berrettini in the second round. The Italian, who has won three Tour titles this year, will face a qualifier in his first match following Monday's draw.

View Tokyo draw

Number two seed Hubert Hurkacz, number three seed Casper Ruud, number four seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and number five seed Tommy Paul are all in contention for the Nitto ATP Finals and will compete in Tokyo.

Hurkacz will be looking to record his first match win in Tokyo at the third attempt when he faces Marcos Giron in the first round. The Pole could play US Open semi-finalist Jack Draper in the second round. The British left-hander, who is currently ranked 20th in the PIF ATP rankings, a career high, will start against a qualifier.

Casper Ruud, ranked 6th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, will face Jordan Thompson. 6th seed Holger Rune is a potential quarterfinal opponent for the Norwegian. Ruud is in the same half as Fritz. In the bottom half of the draw, Stefanos Tsitsipas starts against a qualifier and is seeded to play Paul in the quarterfinals. Paul will face Matteo Arnaldi in the first round.

Home favorite Kei Nishikori is a two-time Tokyo winner. The Japanese wildcard player will play former world number three Marin Cilic in the first round. Nishikori leads the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series 9-6 against the Croatian. Their last meeting was at the 2018 US Open.

Seventh seed Frances Tiafoe will play former Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion Brandon Nakashima in the first round, while defending champion Ben Shelton will face American Reilly Opelka. Japanese wildcard Yoshihito Nishioka will face Felix Auger-Aliassime and last year's semifinalist Shintaro Mochizuki will play Ugo Humbert.

The hard court event starts on Wednesday.