American Frances Tiafoe was too strong for the Australian in their fourth round match, but Hijikata’s performance at the Open has earned him a tidy pay packet and pushed his ranking inside the world’s top 100.
Rinky Hijikata’s unlikely US Open run is over, but the Australian wildcard will leave Flushing Meadows with new-found belief and a career-high ranking well inside the top 100.
“I think when I broke there in the first [set], I really took off there for a while. I got a little sloppy [at the end] but [I am] just happy to get through and be in another quarter-final here at the Open.” The former US college standout earned his shot at Tiafoe with bruising victories over Russian Pavel Kotov and China’s Zhang Zhizhen – lasting four and three hours, respectively – either side of a second-round beat down of Marton Fucsovics.Getty
Hijikata staved off the first break point of the match at 4-4 – surviving an intense 25-shot rally with impressive composure from the baseline – before relenting on the second two points later to put Tiafoe in the driver’s seat.After tucking away the first set, Tiafoe pounced on his 22-year-old rival again at the start of the next with some superb retrieving.
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