Australian Rinky Hijikata defeated Brazilian Matheus Pucinelli De Almeida in the pick of the juniors’ action on Monday as the second round got underway.
Hijikata took just over two hours to seal the 4-6 6-4 6-4 win and secure his place in a junior Grand Slam third round for the first time.
The first set began with some intense rallies and the Brazilian secured the early break, continuing to hold his nerve and take the hard fought opener in just over 40 minutes.
But the 17-year-old Australian was not to be deterred, fighting back to claim the second set and send the match into a decider.
It was Pucinelli De Almeida who claimed the early lead in the third, breaking to take a 2-0 advantage before Hijikata clawed his way back once again to level proceedings at 2-2.
Brutal rallies ensued as the match went deeper, and as the pair looked destined for a tiebreak, the Sydney native played a splendid return game to claim the match.
The Australian hunched over after the final handshake, and received immediate treatment as he sat down. He suffered cramps, but expects to be fully fit for his next match.
“My body is feeling a lot better now than it was a couple of hours ago,” said Hijikata.
“I just started cramping in my legs deep in the third but everything’s sweet now. I should pull up fine for the next match.”
Next up for the Australian will be American Drew Baird, a player who he knows little about.
“It’s good and bad I think. I guess sometimes it’s better to know a little bit about the guy,” he said.
“But at the same time if you don’t know much about them you can focus on yourself a lot more and I guess that’s pretty good as well.”
Progressing along with Hijikata was Serbian No.2 seed Marko Miladinovic, who was forced to his second consecutive three-set match but emerged with a 2-6 6-1 6-4 win over American Tristan Boyer.
No.6 seed Chun Hsin Tseng also progressed, while Argentinean third seed Sebastian Baez was upset by Chinese Taipei’s Ray Ho 6-3 3-6 6-4.
On the girls’ side of the ledger, it was a good day for the seeds, with five of the six claiming wins.
Japanese No.5 seed Naho Sato headlined the action with a straight-sets win over Australian Annerly Poulos, while seventh seed Alexa Noel, ninth seed Xiyu Wang, No.10 Lulu Sun and 13th seed Daniela Vismane also made it through to the final 16.
The major upset of the day went to Hong Kong’s Hong Yi Cody Wong, who stormed home to defeat Japanese 11th seed Yuki Naito 4-6 6-4 6-0.
Australian first-round hero Gabriella Da Silva Fick was second up on Court 7 against Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto and despite a strong start, she was bombarded with a returning masterclass in her 6-4 6-2 loss.
The remaining matches of the second round will be completed on Day 9.
