He had been waiting for this for a year and a half. One month before the start of Roland, Frenchman Arthur Fils, 30th in the world, won his fourth career title at the ATP 500 tournament in Barcelona this Sunday, and dominant and final the Russian Andrey Rublev (6-2, 7-6). The Parisian, who will once again become French number 1 at the expense of Arthur Rinderknech next week, adds his name to the prestigious list of winners of the Catalan tournament that Rafael Nadal has won twelve times. A performance that no Frenchman since Thierry Tulasne in 1985 has managed to achieve.
This is his third title on clay after Lyon and Hamburg. He was also crowned on hard court in Tokyo in October 2024. A few months ago, Fils seemed far from all that. Injured his back at Roland-Garros in 2025, he was away from the courts for eight months and only returned in February. Barely back, he reached the final of the ATP 500 tournament in Doha, where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz. This time in Catalonia, Alcaraz withdrew during the tournament due to a painful wrist.
The road was therefore open for the 21-year-old Frenchman, beaten last year in Barcelona in the semi-final by… Alcaraz. But his journey has not been a long, quiet river. As soon as he entered the fray, he saved two match points against his compatriot Terence Atmane (4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9/7). Then he dominated in two sets the American Brandon Nakashima and especially the Italian, Lorenzo Musetti (9th), seeded number 2 and clay court specialist.
A tense second round
On Saturday in the semi-final, the Frenchman overthrew the surprising Spaniard Rafael Jodar in three sets (3-6, 6-3, 6-2), after being initially manhandled by the new tennis sensation, only 19 years old. Against a tense and broken Rublev from the start, Arthur Fils needed two games to enter his final (0-2). Then he pocketed the next six games to make it halfway after 31 minutes thanks to his powerful winning shots (31 against 10 in total).
The intensity went up a notch during the second round. In an interminable fourth game, Arthur Fils obtained seven break points, all of which were dismissed by the Russian. And the tension of the first game returned when serving for the title. A break, three unsuccessful title points and a second break revived Rublev (6-5). But mentally, Arthur Fils held on to the tie-break and the first of his four new title points was the right one after 1h41. A very good omen before returning to the clay of Porte d’Auteuil, which he left prematurely last year.
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