Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, seeded third, defeated fifth seed Jaime Faria in the second round of qualifying at the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo. The match at the ATP 500 hard-court event, which carries a $2.4 million prize fund, finished 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, with the Paraguayan winning two sets to one. The news was reported by api.tennis.
Vallejo took the first set 6-4. Faria responded in kind in the second, winning it 7-5 to force a deciding set. The third set went through 5-5 before finishing 7-5 again, this time in Vallejo's favour. The last two sets both lasted twelve games, meaning the match was decided right at the end.
Head-to-head levelled
This was the pair's second meeting. Their first, in Rome in 2026, was won by Faria 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, also in three sets. The win in Tokyo evened the score, with the head-to-head now standing at 1-1. According to rank.tennis, the two are separated by five places in the rankings: Vallejo sits 56th with 948 points, while Faria is 61st with 891 points.
Vallejo arrived in Tokyo on the back of a run of defeats. At the US Open he lost in the first round to Gael Monfils, 6-2, 1-6, 2-6, 0-6. Earlier, in Winston-Salem, he beat Pablo Carreño Busta 6-4, 3-0 before retiring in the match, then lost to Botic van de Zandschulp, 2-6, 0-6. In Cincinnati he fell to Tommy Paul, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6. Faria made it through the first round of the US Open in five sets against Jenson Brooksby, 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 1-6, 6-2, before losing in the second round to Carlos Alcaraz, 6-4, 0-6, 3-6, 2-6. In Cincinnati he reached a meeting with Lorenzo Musetti and lost 5-7, 2-6.