SportsTennis
Luca Van Assche beats Rinky Hijikata to reach first Masters 1000 semi-final, meets Ben Shelton
The Frenchman won 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5 in 2 hours 44 minutes on Court Central in Paris on Friday and now plays the third seed on Saturday.
Key points
- Luca Van Assche beat qualifier Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5 in 2 hours 44 minutes.
- It is the Frenchman's first Masters 1000 semi-final.
- He plays third seed Ben Shelton on Saturday, who beat Tommy Paul earlier on Friday.
Luca Van Assche, the French player, reached the first Masters 1000 semi-final of his career in Paris on Friday, beating the Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5 in 2 hours 44 minutes on Court Central.
He broke Hijikata to love in the deciding set and closed the match out on his first match point, when Hijikata netted a backhand volley.
A tight contest
Hijikata, ranked 83rd at the start of the week, pushed him all the way. He hit more winners, 47 to 39, and won 25 of 43 points at the net, but made 41 unforced errors against Van Assche’s 20. Van Assche served 13 aces to Hijikata’s seven and saved five of the seven break points he faced.
On Thursday night, in the previous round, Taylor Fritz knocked out the French favourite Arthur Fils. After that defeat Fils said he hoped for a Frenchman in the semi-finals, in the final and perhaps even as champion. Van Assche has now kept that hope alive.
Shelton next
Van Assche’s opponent on Saturday is the third seed Ben Shelton, who beat fellow American Tommy Paul 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 earlier on Friday to reach his first Paris semi-final.
The other semi-final was not yet set when Van Assche finished. Carlos Alcaraz was still to play Fritz, and Nuno Borges was still to play Casper Ruud, in the remaining quarter-finals on Friday night.