Australian Rinky Hijikata continued his dream run in the boys’ singles, booking a spot in the final eight with a 6-4 6-3 victory over American Drew Baird.
The Sydney native looked right at home on Show Court 3, using his speed and consistency to wear down his opponent in their first meeting.
As the first set was seemingly destined for a tiebreaker, the Australian clinched the crucial break in the 10th game to take the set before racing through the second to claim one of the best victories of his career.
Hijikata was rapt with his performance, especially when told he only committed five unforced errors in the first set.
“I’m pretty stoked to get through, I thought I performed really well today and I can’t wait to get back out there,” he said.
“I tried to be pretty aggressive today and applying myself point in, point out which is what I’ve been working on. I think I did that pretty well today and the consistency was pretty good.
“I didn’t know that (five unforced errors in a set), that’s probably one of the best matches I’ve played. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before.”
Hijikata will now take on Great Britain’s Aidan McHugh, who defeated 14th seed Ondrej Styler 7-6(1) 6-3.
It was a good day for the rest of the seeds, with top two Timofey Skatov and Marko Miladinovic both progressing through to the quarterfinals.
Top seed Skatov overcame a sluggish start to defeat Turkey’s Yanki Erel 0-6 7-5 6-3, while the Serbian second seed Miladinovic won in straight sets 6-3 6-4 over German Rudolf Molleker.
American No.7 seed Sebastian Korda also progressed, 20 years after his father Petr won the men’s singles. He even performed one of Korda Snr’s famous scissor kicks after claiming victory over South African Philip Henning.
Fifth seed Hugo Gaston was also victorious after his opponent, 12th seed Alexey Zakharov retired due to injury, while No.6 Chun Hsin Tseng defeated Igor Gimenez 6-2 7-6(5).
Unseeded Ray Ho from Taiwan rounded out the final eight with a 6-1 3-6 7-5 win over Pole Wojciech Marek.
In the girls’ singles, the top two seeds both claimed tight three-set victories with No.1 Xinyu Wang defeating Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4 4-6 6-2, while second seed En Liang overcame No.16 Kamilla Rakhimova 2-6 6-4 6-4.
No.5 Naho Sato was also pushed by 10th seed Lulu Sun, but emerged victorious 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 6-1.
No.9 Xiyu Wang upset seventh seed Alexa Noel, while Latvian 13th seed Daniela Vismane claimed a three-set victory over Russian Daria Frayman.
American Dalayna Hewitt was another winner on day 10, overcoming the last Australian in the draw, Amber Marshall, 7-5 6-2.
The 17-year-old’s serve and movement were in full swing, and the leg issues that caused her to pull out of a lead up event in Traralgon are all but gone, a worrying sign for her opponents.
“The leg is good, it’s actually improving a lot,” Hewitt said. “The taping is getting good, I’m taking all of my ice baths. I’m taking care of it and getting treatment and it’s getting better.”
Elsewhere in the draw, Frenchwoman Clara Burel defeated 12th seed Elysia Bolton in three, while Elisabetta Cocciaretto was victorious over Hong Yi Cody Wong.