Second seed Hubert Hurkacz survived a tough opening match in Tokyo and now faces a familiar foe in Jack Draper on Friday. Arthur Fils and Matteo Berrettini are also aiming for a quarterfinal spot at this ATP 500 tournament.
Jack Draper vs. (2) Hubert Hurkacz
Hurkacz and Draper will be facing each other or the sixth time in their careers and for the third time this season when they clash in round two of the Japan Open on Friday. With a pair of victories already in 2024 (in a third-set tiebreaker at the Monte-Carlo Masters and 6-1, 7-5 a few weeks later in Madrid), Hurkacz now leads the head-to-head series 4-1. The good news for Draper is that he dominated their only previous outdoor hard-court contest, rolling 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 at the 2022 U.S. Open.
That isn’t the only reason why the 20th-ranked Brit should like his chances in this one. He is playing great right now, coming off a semifinal run at the U.S. Open (lost to eventual champion Jannik Sinner). Draper is 31-20 for his 2024 campaign after defeating Mattia Bellucci 6-4, 6-2 in his Tokyo opener. Meanwhile, Hurkacz has not been 100 percent since suffering a meniscus injury at Wimbledon. The eighth-ranked Pole is still winning a fair share of matches, but he also took some bad losses on U.S. hard courts this summer and he just barely scraped past Marcos Giron 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4 on Wednesday. This is a great opportunity for Draper.
Pick: Draper in 2
Arthur Fils vs. Matteo Berrettini
Berrettini probably figured he would be going up against top seed Taylor Fritz in the second round, but that won’t be the case. Instead, it’s Fils who will be on the other side of the net. Fils upset Fritz–not only the No. 1 seed but also the recent U.S. Open runner-up–via a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 decision on Thursday. Thus continues a stellar season for the 20-year-old Frenchman, who has earned 28 main-tour wins while climbing to 24th in the rankings.
The result against Fritz aside, it is Berrettini who is playing more consistent tennis at the moment. Fils is still just 4-6 in his last 10 matches since capturing the Hamburg title, while the 28-year-old Italian is 15-2 in his last 17 dating back to the start of his surge to back-to-back clay-court titles this summer. Berrettini remained red hot by beating Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday. Fils will likely provide a tougher test, but the former Wimbledon runner-up should have the upper hand.
Pick: Berrettini in 3
