Arthur Fils rues missed chances in Tokyo quarter-final defeat

“I didn’t manage the ends of the sets well,” Arthur Fils admitted after losing to Valentin Vacherot in the quarter-finals in Tokyo. The Frenchman went down 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in a hard-fought match and regretted letting his opportunity slip in the first and third sets after breaking in both.

Asked about those missed chances, Fils said the match had been decided by only a few points. He felt he could have closed out the sets more comfortably, but allowed his opponent to recover. “He served very well, and I didn’t serve well enough today,” he added, highlighting Vacherot’s serving and his own shortcomings in that area.

Fils did not consider fitness to be the reason for the defeat. He said he had trained with his coach in Croatia and had arrived in Tokyo feeling good. However, this was already his fifth match of the week, in a schedule he described as moving very quickly. In his view, the result came down to fine margins rather than a physical problem.

The question put to Fils focused on the breaks he had secured in the first and third sets, followed by his opponent’s recovery. His response framed the Tokyo exit around handling key moments and serving, rather than his physical condition.