Rinky Hijikata's Paris Masters Journey Ends in Thrilling Duel
Rinky Hijikata’s dream in Paris did not end with a whimper. It ended in a full-blooded, two-and-three-quarter hour duel against a new French standard-bearer who simply refused to yield.
On a night when the Australian qualifier again flirted with history, it was 22-year-old Luca Van Assche who walked off centre court as the new homegrown hero, winning a gripping quarter-final 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5 at the Paris Masters.
A week that caught fire
Hijikata arrived as a qualifier and turned the week into a personal breakthrough. Five wins in six days, a comeback victory over Novak Djokovic in the second round, and a run that had him one step from becoming the first qualifier in nine years to reach the Paris Masters semi-finals.
He played like a man who believed that door was about to open again.
For the third straight match, Hijikata dropped the opening set and then came surging back. Van Assche, born in Belgium but very much Parisian in spirit and support, took the first set 6-4 and looked in control with the crowd at his back.
Hijikata did what he has done all week: he bit down and swung harder.
Tiebreak fire, then a final-set twist
The second set boiled down to a tiebreak, and that’s where Hijikata’s fearless streak roared back. He took the initiative, attacked second serves, stepped inside the baseline, and dragged the match into a deciding set with a 7-6 (7-4) steal that briefly hushed the partisan stands.
The momentum carried into the third. Hijikata snatched an immediate break and surged 2-0 ahead, suddenly looking every bit the man about to collect a sixth win in seven days and stride into his first Masters 1000 semi-final.
Then the match turned.
Van Assche, playing his first Masters 1000 quarter-final, dug in behind the baseline and showed why so many inside the sport rate him so highly. His defence stiffened. Rallies stretched. Hijikata, forced again and again to hit one more ball, began to feel the weight of it.
Point by point, the Frenchman reeled him back. The crowd sensed the shift and rose with him. Van Assche, who admitted he was struggling physically in the decider, fed off the noise and found another gear, clawing back from 0-2 down to eventually close out the set 7-5.
He becomes the 12th Frenchman to reach the semi-finals in Paris. The manner of it suggests he will not be the last.
A new French hope, an American test
“The crowd were so important for me, supporting me so much in the tough moments, and that's why I played my best tennis,” Van Assche said, the emotion of the night still etched on his face.
His reward is a semi-final against Ben Shelton, the third seed and the latest American to plant his flag deep into the European indoor season.
Shelton had earlier blasted his way past compatriot Tommy Paul in an all-American contest, firing 19 aces in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win. The result ended Paul’s late push to qualify for the ATP Finals in Turin and simultaneously locked in a place at the season-ending showpiece for another American, Frances Tiafoe.
Tiafoe joins world number one Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Shelton, Daniil Medvedev, Flavio Cobolli and Arthur Fils in the elite field.
Hijikata leaves with more than regrets
Hijikata walks away without a semi-final but with something more tangible than a feel-good storyline. His run guarantees he will crack the world’s top 60 and rise to become Australia’s number two man behind Alex de Minaur.
He matched the occasion in Paris, took out the world’s best player, and went toe-to-toe with one of the game’s most touted young defenders in a hostile arena.
Van Assche took the night and the place in the last four. Hijikata may have taken something longer-lasting: proof that weeks like this no longer need to feel like a dream.
