HOUSTON — Rinky Hijikata defeated fifth-seed Christopher Eubanks in his first profession clay-court match at an ATP Tour occasion within the first spherical of the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Males’s Clay Courtroom Championship on Monday evening.
Hijikata gained 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) within the match with two tiebreaks.
“Simply managed to get via there. It wasn’t wanting good for some time,” Hijikata stated. “I believe Chris did not miss a primary serve for a protracted, very long time and I wasn’t touching too many serves or making any. I am simply glad that I sort of simply hung round lengthy sufficient and managed to give you a number of good factors once I needed to.”
The Australian, who’s ranked No. 80 within the ATP rankings gained 79% of his first-serve factors.
“(I’m) fairly resilient,” he stated. “There are a variety of issues that may go mistaken in clay-court tennis, particularly once I really feel like each of us have not performed an excessive amount of on it So I am simply attempting to be taught as a lot as I can, attempt to adapt, and you then discover ways to attempt taking part in on this in addition to I can. I am simply wanting ahead to the subsequent one.”
He strikes on to face American Brandon Nakashima, the 2022 ATP Finals champion. Nakashima did not lose serve in a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Croatian Dude Ajdukovic.
Additionally on Monday, Belgian Zizou Bergs received a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over American Patrick Kypson.
