Preview Japan Open Final | Carlos Alcaraz faces Jiri Lehecka in Tokyo title clash

Carlos Alcaraz will look to defend his Tokyo title when he faces Jiri Lehecka in the 2026 Japan Open final. The world No. 3 has reached his fourth tour-level final of the season after returning from a lengthy wrist injury, while Lehecka is bidding for his first title of the year and the third of his career.

The final brings together two players who have taken very different routes through the tournament. Alcaraz has been tested throughout his run, needing three sets against Alex Michelsen and Jaume Munar while also being pushed to first-set tie-breaks in each of his first three matches. Lehecka, meanwhile, has produced increasingly dominant performances as the week has progressed.

For Alcaraz, the final represents another opportunity to confirm that he is back at his highest level after missing around four and a half months because of a right wrist injury. He returned at the US Open, where he reached the quarter-finals, before beating Taylor Fritz at the Laver Cup and now reaching his first final since Monte-Carlo in April.

Lehecka will be playing his eighth ATP final and his second of 2026. The Czech has already reached finals in Miami and now Tokyo this season, although he lost the Miami championship match to Jannik Sinner in straight sets. He enters Sunday's final with a 2-5 career record in ATP finals.

Alcaraz began his title defence with a three-set victory over Alex Michelsen before overcoming Matteo Arnaldi in straight sets. He then defeated Denis Shapovalov after the Canadian retired in the second set, setting up a semifinal against Jaume Munar.

The semifinal was Alcaraz's toughest test of the week. He appeared to be in control after breaking Munar and serving for the opening set at 5-3, but the Spaniard then dropped 16 consecutive points and lost the set 7-5. He recovered to win the next two sets 6-3, 6-1 and secure his place in the final.

Alcaraz admitted afterwards that he has struggled to start matches cleanly in Tokyo, despite finding ways to recover each time.

“I don’t know what happened in the first set. I started the match well. I was up a break and serving for the set. It seems that I’m struggling in every first set… But I've come back every time and I’m really happy about it.”

His semifinal lasted two hours and 31 minutes, with Alcaraz winning 76.8% of first-serve points. He will now attempt to extend his unbeaten run at the Tokyo ATP 500 to nine matches after winning the tournament on debut last year.

Lehecka has also faced some difficult moments in Tokyo, particularly against Ugo Humbert in the fourth round. He lost the opening set before recovering to win 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, but has been much more convincing since then.

The Czech followed that comeback with a 6-1, 6-1 quarter-final victory over qualifier Adolfo Daniel Vallejo before producing another commanding performance against eighth seed Valentin Vacherot. Lehecka needed just 68 minutes to beat Vacherot 6-4, 6-2, winning 91.7% of his first-serve points and 87.5% of his second-serve points.

Lehecka knows the scale of the challenge against Alcaraz, but he also has the confidence of having already beaten him once. That victory came in the 2025 Doha quarter-finals, also on hard courts and at ATP 500 level.

“It's one of the top challenges in our sport right now: To play a guy like him. We all know what he is capable of. We saw that he is back in his form and is able to play tremendous shots, as always. I managed to beat him once, also on hard courts, also at ATP 500 level [in Doha 2025 QF]. I will do everything I can to take some positives out of that match that we played together.”

The final will be Lehecka's second of the season after Miami and his eighth overall. He has won titles in Brisbane and Adelaide, but his most recent ATP trophy came in Adelaide last year.

Alcaraz leads the overall head-to-head 3–1, although Lehecka already knows what it takes to defeat him—having beaten him in conditions similar to Tokyo's at the 2025 Doha Open.

The Queen's Club final was particularly significant because Lehecka pushed Alcaraz into a deciding set before the Spaniard recovered to win. Their most recent encounter came at the 2025 US Open, where Alcaraz was considerably more dominant, winning in straight sets on his way to his 6th major title.

That history makes the Tokyo final difficult to reduce to a simple ranking-based matchup. Alcaraz enters as the No. 3 player in the world and defending champion, but Lehecka has already demonstrated that his game can trouble him on hard courts. For Alcaraz, the biggest question will be whether he can avoid another slow start. His ability to recover has carried him through the tournament, but Lehecka has the serving quality and first-strike power to make those lapses more costly.

Lehecka, meanwhile, will need to reproduce the level he showed against Vacherot while finding a way to prevent Alcaraz from extending rallies and turning defence into attack. His best chance will likely come from maintaining a high first-strike level and protecting his serve, particularly given how difficult Alcaraz can be once he gains control of a return game.

The Tokyo ATP 500 final therefore brings together the defending champion and a player seeking another breakthrough on hard courts. Alcaraz has the stronger head-to-head record and more experience at this stage, but Lehecka has already beaten him on this surface and arrives after one of his cleanest performances of the week.