There will be two French people in the final four of the Tokyo tournament: Arthur Fils, handsome winner on Sunday over defending champion Ben Shelton, 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/2) and Ugo Humbert, qualified thanks to the retirement of Jack Draper during the match.
The presence of a Tricolor in the final of this ATP 500 tournament is not assured because Fils will face the Dane Holger Rune (14th in the world) and Humbert will face the Czech Tomas Machac (34th).
Son, 20, continued his great tournament after his victory in the first round against the number 1 seed, the American Taylor Fritz (7th), finalist of the US Open at the beginning of September.
The Ile-de-France native, 24th in the world, emerged victorious from a big fight lasting almost three hours (2h59) against another American (17th).
After missing two match points in the second set, he underwent extensive treatment, appearing to suffer from a leg. Back on his feet and leading 4-2 with his service to follow in the last set, he was caught at 4-4 but showed great mental strength to conclude.
Previously, Humbert (19th) took advantage of the abandonment of his British opponent Jack Draper (20th), injured in his abdominals, while the French No.1 led 7-5, 2-1.
Their semi-final will be the third duel between Son and Rune (14th), two players of the same generation (20 and 21 years old), but the first on hard. The two hopefuls are at one victory everywhere, the French having won by abandonment this summer in the quarter-finals in Hamburg on gravel.
On Sunday, the Dane had to work hard to get rid of (3-6, 6-2, 7-5) Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori (34), former member of the top 5 now 200th in the world.
Humbert will face Machac (34th) for the first time in his career, who eliminated American qualifier Alex Michelsen, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.
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