TOKYO — Carlos Alcaraz and Jiri Lehecka will meet in the 2026 Japan Open final at the ATP 500 event in Tokyo, with the championship match scheduled for 18:00 local time on Tuesday 6 October — 09:00 GMT/11:00 Spanish time — and $437,955 in winner's prize money on the line from a $2,342,275 total purse. The final will be preceded by the Kei Nishikori farewell tribute ceremony, which could push the start slightly later.
Defending champion Alcaraz overcame a first-set collapse against fellow Spaniard Jaume Munar, losing four games in a row to drop the opener before rallying for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 victory. "I decided to start finding my rhythm, slowing down my shots a bit and getting into a match rhythm, waiting three, four, five shots before being more aggressive, and it was working, it was going well," Alcaraz said of his turnaround. Lehecka was far more efficient, needing just 68 minutes to dispatch eighth seed Valentin Vacherot 6-4, 6-2 to reach his seventh top-level final.
The final will be the fourth ATP Tour meeting between the pair, with Alcaraz leading the head-to-head 3-1. He won on grass at Queen's Club in 2023 before Lehecka leveled on hard courts in the Doha quarterfinals in 2025, but Alcaraz moved ahead again with another victory at Queen's and then at the US Open later in the year. "It's one of the top challenges in our sport right now: To play a guy like him," Lehecka said. "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 winner in Tokyo will collect $437,955, up from the $416,365 Alcaraz received for winning the title in 2025, while the runner-up will earn $235,685. Ahead of the final, Alcaraz sits on $65,777,598 in career prize money while Lehecka has earned $9,749,868.
Alcaraz is chasing his third title of the year in what is his fourth final of 2026, while Lehecka is into his second final of the campaign after finishing runner-up to Jannik Sinner at the Miami Open. The Czech owns two ATP Tour singles titles and now has a chance to add an ATP 500 crown against the defending champion.