Tokyo: Jacquet beats Rune, faces Darderi in last 16

Kyrian Jacquet is on a roll. The Frenchman beat Holger Rune 6-3 6-1 at the Japan Open in Tokyo and reached the last 16, where he will face Italy's Luciano Darderi. After the semi-final in Hangzhou, it is the second significant result in a few days for a player whose ranking is climbing fast.

The scoreline says most of it. Against Rune, Jacquet held all eight of his service games and broke four times from six chances, according to Tennis Majors' match report. The Dane never had a break point and, per the same report, did not win a single point on the Frenchman's first serve.

The most striking number is another one: Jacquet landed only 43% of his first serves, yet won all 19 points played after a first serve. When the first serve went in, the game was already in his hands. For a 25-year-old, born on 11 May 2001, it is the picture of confidence growing from match to match.

To see how much his season has changed, look at the rankings. In the official ATP list Jacquet is No. 86, and in the site's live ranking he is already No. 70 with 826 points, which is also his career best, set on 2 October 2026. He has gained 38 places since 9 September and added 145 points since the Tokyo tournament began.

Ahead of him in the live ranking are Ethan Quinn (No. 68, 829 points) and Kamil Majchrzak (No. 69, 827). Behind him, Facundo Diaz Acosta (No. 71) is 10 points away and Daniel Altmaier (No. 72) 22. A couple of wins can move him up several more spots in a part of the list where gaps are measured in a handful of points.

The road to Tokyo ran through Hangzhou. At the ATP 250 in China, Jacquet beat Aleksandar Vukic 7-6(5) 3-6 6-3, then Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-2 6-3 and Fabian Marozsan 7-6(12) 6-4, before losing the semi-final to Andrey Rublev 7-6(0) 6-1. That semi-final earned him 100 points, the richest result of his season on the site.

The numbers weigh even more against the two previous years. In 2024 and 2025, in the tournaments tracked by the site, Jacquet played just five matches and won two, with no titles or finals. In 2025 his record was two wins and two losses, with the quarter-finals at the Moselle Open in Metz as his best result.

In Metz, on indoor hard courts, he beat Luca Van Assche in three sets and Dan Added 6-0 6-2 before losing to Cameron Norrie 4-6 7-6(2) 6-4. That run earned him 50 points, the same 50 that drop off his ranking over the next six weeks: every win in Asia also helps offset that loss.

The path has not been straight. At the 2025 French Open Jacquet lost in the first round to Nuno Borges in five sets, 3-6 6-7(3) 6-4 6-3 6-3, and over his last 13 matches tracked by the site his record is six wins and seven losses. But over the last ten it is six wins and four defeats, and the trend is clear.

On the other side of the net was a Rune far from the version that took him to the top. On the site's head-to-head page the Dane is No. 188, and according to Tennis Majors this was his first tour event after eleven months out: his Tokyo adventure lasted one match. It was the first meeting between the two, and for now the Frenchman leads 1-0.

The last 16 bring a very different test. Luciano Darderi, born on 14 February 2002, is No. 19 in the official ranking with 2,200 points and No. 18 live with 2,175. His career high is No. 16, reached on 3 July 2026, and in 2025 he won three titles on the main tour, with a record of 29 wins and 27 losses.

Darderi reached the last 16 by beating Casper Ruud 7-6(3) 6-3, a result that confirmed him among the draw's protagonists. At the recent US Open he got past Dane Sweeny, Dalibor Svrcina and Harry Wendelken before stopping in the last 16 against Alexander Zverev, who beat him 6-2 6-2 7-6(3).

There is no history between Jacquet and Darderi: the site's head-to-head page records no meeting. It will be a new test for both, with a ranking gap of almost seventy places in the Italian's favour, but against a Frenchman who has just shown he plays above his ranking.

The points are significant. For both players a last-16 win is worth 45 points: Jacquet would rise to 871, Darderi to 2,220. Darderi, who has 85 points to defend over the next six weeks, is squeezed between Andrey Rublev (No. 17, 20 points ahead) and Francisco Cerundolo (No. 19, 10 behind): every round of this 500 counts.

The tournament has history of its own. The Japan Open is an ATP 500 on hard courts that began this year on 28 September with a 32-player draw. Last year Carlos Alcaraz won it, beating Taylor Fritz 6-4 6-4 in the final; in 2024 the title went to Arthur Fils, who beat Ugo Humbert 5-7 7-6(6) 6-3.

The draw is already moving. The last 16 features three Italians, with Matteo Arnaldi and Matteo Berrettini alongside Darderi, and three Frenchmen, with Ugo Humbert and Arthur Fils joining Jacquet. Alcaraz, who beat Sho Shimabukuro 7-5 6-1, remains among the favourites, while the surprises include Jaume Munar, who beat Taylor Fritz 6-7(7) 6-4 6-3.

What now? For Jacquet the match with Darderi is a chance to show that Hangzhou was no fluke. If he won the title he would reach 1,281 points: for now that is only a scenario, but it measures how much his season has changed in two weeks.

For Italian fans the appointment is with the higher-ranked player, but also with an opponent who has nothing to lose. We will see whether the first serve that wiped out Rune holds up against a top-20 player. One thing is certain: Tokyo has one more story to follow.