AUSTRALIAN rising star Rinky Hijikata has booked his ticket into the second round of the US Open, defeating 59th ranked Spaniard, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in a hard-fought four-set match. Hijikata – who is ranked 72nd in the world has to defend his career best Round of 16 appearance last year, and started on the right note with a 7-6 3-6 6-4 6-3 triumph over the 59th ranked Davidovich Fokina.

Unfortunately Hijikata will need to reach the fourth round in order to not lose any points after his breakout Grand Slam performance 12 months ago. He had only won one main draw Grand Slam match prior – at the Australian Open last year – and bowed out in all three first round matches in majors this year.

However overnight, the Australian was able to breakthrough that barrier and reach the Round of 64 once again with his epic three-hour and 17-minute clash against Davidovich Fokina.

“This is what you dream of,” Hijikata said post-match. “I feel like I’ve played some really good tennis at this tournament before and obviously had a great run last year, so I feel comfortable here.

“I’ve put in a lot of hard work this year and it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, so to come out here and put in a performance like that, I’m pretty proud of myself.”

Hijikata served eight aces to six and was prolific off his serve, winning 70 per cent of his first serve points, and 45 per cent of his second serve points to get ahead. His opponent hit 12 more winners (41-29) but Hijikata played within his means, only hitting 35 unforced errors to Davidovich Fokina’s 66. In the end, just eight points separated the players (143-135).

“When he’s on, he’s pretty much unplayable,” Hijikata said. “He’s probably one of the most explosive guys on tour, he’s very quick.

“He’s not an easy guy to come up against first up, so I knew I was going to have to play well to get through.”

The matches do not get any tougher, with Hijikata coming up against ninth ranked Grigor Dimitrov in the second round.

“As always, I’ll just compete as hard as I can,” Hijikata said of the challenge.

The 33 year-old Bulgarian won 6-3 6-4 6-2 over Frenchman Kyrian Jacquet in an hour and 45 minutes, and is a former semi-finalist at Flushing Meadows, reaching the last four in 2019.

AROUND THE COURTS

The big result for United States fans was American talent Brandon Nakashima upstaging 15th seed Holger Rune in straight sets, 6-2 6-1 -64 in a time of one hour and 55 minutes to advance through to the Round of 64. He was joined in the second round by countryman Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton, the latter of whom closed out former US Open winner Dominic Thiem‘s career with a 6-4 6-2 6-2 triumph.

Title contenders Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev both made their way through, while top seeds Andrey Rublev and Casper Ruud also won in the first round. Young Chinese talent Juncheng Shang came from behind to upstage 27th seed Kazakh Alexander Bublik, while fans out on Court 16 were treated to a four-hour and 31-minute epic which saw Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena defeat British qualifier Jan Choinski, 6-2 6-3 5-7 6-7 6-3.

There were two other Australians in action with 28th seed Alexei Popyrin kicking off his first major as a seed with a straight sets victory over Soonwoo Kwon, while qualifier Adam Walton went down in four sets to Frenchman Alexandre Muller.