Rising Australian Rinky Hijikata is making the best of a ‘lucky loser’ reprieve by making a remarkable run to his first-ever ATP Tour semi-final in the Netherlands.
And as he eyes a maiden final, the 22-year-old will have a fellow Sydneysider, Jordan Thompson, standing in his way in Saturday’s semi-final in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
With one Australian now guaranteed to play in Sunday’s final, there was disappointment that national No.1 Alex de Minaur couldn’t join the party as he was knocked out in Friday’s quarter-finals.
Hijikata had not even expected to be playing in this week’s traditional pre-Wimbledon grass-court event after being knocked out in the final round of qualifying.
But granted a second chance after a withdrawal, the Australian Open doubles champion has grabbed the opportunity with both hands to make his best run yet in any singles event.
On Friday, the world No.133 had to show considerable resilience in battling back from a set down to defeat American Mackenzie McDonald 5-7 6-3 6-1 in his first quarter-final, a third successive victory after his qualifying loss.
It’s the latest success in a rise which will see Hijikata, who was ranked 230 in the world this time last year, move up to about 115.
It’s set up an all-Sydney semi-final with the more experienced Thompson, who also came from a set behind to defeat French southpaw Adrian Mannarino 5-7 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 just over two-and-a-half hours.
This was a measure of revenge for the 29-year-old Thompson, who lost to Mannarino at the same venue in his only ATP final back in 2019.
Showing once again his liking for grass-court tennis, ‘Tommo’, whose last semi-final also came on the surface in Newport, USA, two years ago, will fancy his chances of beating the relative rookie Hijikata on Saturday.
In the other side of the draw, world No.18 de Minaur took the first set but eventually went down to home favourite Tallon Griekspoor 6-4 3-6 4-6.
Elsewhere in the build-up to Wimbledon at the Stuttgart Open, Chris O’Connell’s impressive progress in his fourth quarter-final of the year was halted by Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in a 6-4 6-4 defeat.
The Sydneysider’s consolation, though, will be a new career-high ranking of No.68 next week.
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