Rinky Hijikata's Paris Masters Journey Ends in Thrilling Duel
Rinky Hijikata’s dream week in Paris ended under the lights, not with a whimper, but with a full-blooded three-set duel against the new French darling of Bercy.
Luca Van Assche, 22 years old and very much at home in his own city, dragged himself back from the brink in the deciding set to beat the Australian qualifier 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5 and book a place in his first Masters 1000 semi-final at the Paris Masters.
This was no gentle landing back to earth for Hijikata. It was a crash, a roar, and finally a standing ovation.
A French hero emerges
For the third straight match, Hijikata had to climb out of a hole. He had already stunned Novak Djokovic in the second round, coming from behind to turn the tournament upside down. Against Van Assche, the script looked familiar: lose the opening set, then ignite.
The Frenchman, though, refused to play the victim.
Van Assche, Belgian-born but Paris-bred on these courts, absorbed the early blows, then fed off the energy of a crowd desperate for a homegrown story. He had never been this deep at a Masters 1000 event either, yet he handled the occasion like a veteran.
He took the first set 6-4, then watched Hijikata swing freely again in the second. The Australian, 25 and riding the form of his life, played with the same fearless aggression that had carried him through qualifying and five main-draw wins. In the tiebreak, that boldness crackled: Hijikata attacked, took control, and forced a deciding set.
At that point, the noise dipped. The locals knew what he had done to Djokovic. They could feel the upset building again.
Hijikata surges, Van Assche bends but does not break
Hijikata struck first in the third. An immediate break, 2-0 up, and suddenly the qualifier was within touching distance of history: a sixth win in seven days and the first Paris Masters semi-final for a qualifier in nine years.
The court tightened. Van Assche’s legs did too.
He later admitted he was struggling physically in that final set, but his tennis never betrayed it. He dug in, point after point, turning defence into a kind of art form. Hijikata would punch through one, two, three shots, only to find yet another ball coming back, deep and awkward, forcing him into that one extra swing.
The pressure finally told.
Van Assche clawed his way back from 0-2, using his famed defensive skills as a shield and the crowd as a second wind. The rallies stretched, Hijikata’s margin for error shrank, and the Frenchman’s resilience began to tilt the match.
By the closing games, every point felt like a small war. Van Assche held his nerve, broke late, and closed out the 7-5 decider after two hours and 45 minutes of breathless tennis.
“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, acknowledging the role of the Paris faithful in dragging him over the line.
He becomes the 12th Frenchman to reach the semi-finals at the Paris Masters. Next up: American Ben Shelton, a very different kind of storm.
A breakthrough week, even in defeat
For Hijikata, the sting will be sharp. He had the lead, the momentum, and a chance to turn a fairy tale into something even bigger. Yet this week still changes his career.
When the rankings update, he will climb into the world’s top 60 and rise to Australia’s number two man behind Alex de Minaur. From qualifier to centre-stage headline, from Djokovic’s conqueror to a player the locker room must now take very seriously.
He leaves Paris with a painful loss, but also with a new status.
Shelton booms into the last four
Waiting for Van Assche is third seed Ben Shelton, who thundered his way into the last four earlier in the day.
Shelton unleashed 19 aces in an all-American quarter-final, overpowering Tommy Paul 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Paul had been quietly chasing an ATP Finals spot in Turin, but Shelton’s power and timing shut that door.
The result had ripple effects. With Paul’s run stopped, Frances Tiafoe secured his place at the season-ending championship, joining world number one Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Shelton, Daniil Medvedev, Flavio Cobolli and Arthur Fils in the elite field.
So Paris now has its narrative: a young French defender with the crowd in his lungs, a booming American server on the other side of the net, and an Australian qualifier who leaves with a broken heart but a new ranking.
The question now is simple: can Van Assche ride this surge from home hope to home champion, or will Shelton’s serve silence Bercy’s newest hero?
