Rinky Hijikata earned his first ATP Tour victory on clay with a 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2) win over fifth seed Christopher Eubanks at the Fayez Sarofim & Co US Men’s Clay Clay Championships in Houston.
Hijikata won 79% of his first serve points and only dropped his serve once.
Both players went on serve en route to the tie-break. Eubanks earned a mini-break to take a 4-2 lead, but Hijikata won five consecutive points to take a 7-4.
Eubanks broke serve in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead, but Hijikata pulled back on serve in the next game to draw level to 3-3. Hijikata earned two mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-2.
“I just managed to get through there. It was not looking good for a while. I think Chris didn’t miss a first serve for a long time and I was not touching too many services or making any. I am just glad that I just hung around long enough and managed to come up with a few good points when I had to”, said Hijikata.
Hijikata set up a second round match against Brandon Nakashima, who did not drop his serve in his 6-1 6-4 win over Croatia’s Dude Ajudukovic. Nakashima earned two breaks in the fourth and sixth games to win the first set 6-1. The US player sealed the win with another break in the third game of the second set.
J.J Wolf edged Swiss qualifier Alexander Ritchard 6-3 2-6 6-4 to earn his first ATP Tour win of the season. Wolf set up a second round match against either Marcos Giron or Denis Shapovalov. Belgium’s Zizou Bergs beat US qualifier Patrick Kypson 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.
