Rinky Hijikata continues his winning run with victory over Abdullah Shelbayh in Newport
Jul 18, 2023
Newport [US], July 18 : Rinky Hijikata continued his charge towards the world’s Top 100 on Monday with a straight-sets win against Abdullah Shelbayh in the Hall of Fame Open in Newport.
The Australian defeated Shelbayh 6-3, 6-4 without losing serve to reach the second round of the Hall of Fame Open.
“It's great. It's my first time playing here and I was really looking forward to it. I’ve heard great things about the tournament and then to get to play on centre court my first match here was pretty cool. And I was very, very happy to get through the match today," ATP.com quoted Hijikata as saying.
With his win, the 22-year-old rose to No. 110 in the ATP Live Rankings. Hijikata, who last month in's-Hertogenbosch reached his first ATP Tour singles semifinal, saved the lone break point he encountered on the Rhode Island grass.
“I’ve said it a lot before but I love playing on the grass,” said Hijikata, who will next play second seed Adrian Mandarin.
“Any tournament that's on the grass, I feel at home and I'm pumped to play. I'm stoked that I got through my first round and I have the chance to play hopefully another match and maybe a couple more," Hijikata added.
Seventh seed Jordan Thompson defeated American Aleksandar Vukic 6-0, 6-1. In's-Hertogenbosch in 2019 and 2023, Thompson reached both of his ATP Tour finals on grass.
In other matches, Corentin Moutet defeated University of Texas college standout Eliot Spizzirri 7-6(7), 6-0, while Liam Broady defeated Shintaro Mochizuki 6-1, 7-5.
