reaching the same stage of the women\u2019s event<\/a>, this marks the first time since 2004 that four Australians will feature in the third round at Indian Wells.\u00a0<\/p>\nAt that edition 22 years ago, it was Lleyton Hewitt, Wayne Arthurs, Alicia Molik and Sam Stosur.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hijikata\u2019s victory was his first over a top-25 player; his previous best win in a completed match, by ranking, came when he defeated 33rd-ranked Sebastian Baez at last year\u2019s Bordeaux Challenger.<\/p>\n
Riding a four-match winning streak, Hijikata next lines up against the winner of the match between 10th seed Alexander Bublik and Czech lucky loser Vit Kopriva.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly just happy to put in another good performance this week. Really happy to reach the third round of a Masters for the first time \u2013 that\u2019s a big kind of goal ticked off, also coming against an opponent I\u2019ve not had success with in the past,” Hijikata told tennis.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cHappy to play another match. I\u2019m feeling good. I think the conditions here suit me well. I\u2019ve played some pretty good tennis here in previous years<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of tennis in previous weeks, I\u2019m feeling good about my game. Getting through some tight matches helps with confidence, too.”<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the 25-year-old\u2019s most notable ‘big’ tournament result since he advanced to the fourth round of the 2023 US Open, a performance helping him reach a peak ranking of world No.62.<\/p>\n
Currently 117th, Hijikata\u2019s run at Indian Wells has seen him rise to No.106 in the ATP live rankings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important thing is that my body is healthy at the moment \u2013 last year a bit of a struggle physically and it was tough to build momentum when you\u2019re constantly stopping and starting,” Hijikata said.<\/p>\n
“This season I\u2019ve been able to spend a lot more time on court and improve my game.”<\/p>\n
Hijikata was brilliant in the final set against Darderi, generating three break points in the fifth game and converting the third with a scorching passing shot off a running forehand.<\/p>\n
He held two more break points for a 5-2 lead, but weathered the Darderi fightback and played purposeful, attacking all-court tennis when serving for the match.<\/p>\n
He arrived at 40-15 and was in control of his second match point when, suddenly, Darderi stopped the point just as Hijikata was setting up to play an overhead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A video review did not provide sufficient evidence for why Darderi did so, meaning the point was awarded to Hijikata \u2013 and ended the match.<\/p>\n
De Minaur, meanwhile, was also playing a recent title winner; Korda in mid-February won the ATP 250 tournament in Delray Beach and had built a six-match winning streak.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
From a break down in the first set, Korda took the opener and led 2-3, 0-30 on De Minaur\u2019s serve before the Aussie saved a break point, dug himself out of that hole, then broke to love in the very next game.<\/p>\n
He sent the match to a third set, where in the penultimate game he again scored a decisive break of serve, and went on to seal victory in two hours, 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
“It was a brutal match. I knew going in how tough the match was going to be, and Sebi came out really hot, playing some great tennis,” De Minaur said.<\/p>\n
“At the start, the match was played during the day and it was quite gusty, windy conditions, but he managed to adapt to them really well.<\/p>\n
“And then I just had to dig really deep. I mean, there were some very tough moments in the second set where I fought [off] some break points, and managed to kind of fight through and give myself a chance and an opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’m so stoked to get the win today against an incredibly high-quality opponent.”<\/p>\n
Another Australian, qualifier Storm Hunter, saw her campaign came to an end when she lost 6-3 6-2 to 12th seed Belinda Bencic.<\/p>\n
Aussies in action: Indian Wells<\/p>\n
DAY 4 RESULTS<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s singles, second round<\/p>\n
[6] Alex de Minaur (AUS) d\u00a0Sebastian Korda (USA) 4-6 6-4 6-4\u00a0
[Q] Rinky Hijikata (AUS)\u00a0d [20] Luciano Darderi (ITA) 4-6 6-2 6-4<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s singles, second round<\/p>\n
[12] Belinda Bencic (SUI) d\u00a0[Q] Storm Hunter (AUS) 6-3 6-2<\/p>\n
COMING UP<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s singles, third round<\/p>\n
[Q] Talia Gibson (AUS)\u00a0d [17] Clara Tauson (DEN)
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS)\u00a0d [7] Jasmine Paolini (ITA)<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s singles, third round<\/p>\n
[6] Alex de Minaur (AUS)\u00a0v [27] Cameron Norrie (GBR)
[Q] Rinky Hijikata (AUS)\u00a0v TBC<\/p>\n
Save over 60% off a 12-month subscription and have access to the ATP, WTA, Australian Pro Tour & Junior Nationals with\u00a0beIN SPORTS<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rinky Hijikata\u2019s resurgent campaign has continued at Indian Wells, with the Australian qualifier upsetting Luciano Darderi to reach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,259688,72820,94311,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-526028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-indian-wells","11":"tag-news-article","12":"tag-rinky-hijikata","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}