Alex De Minaur and Rinky Hijikata reach fourth round of 2023 U.S. Open

Rinky Hijikata (Juan de DeBoca, Wikimedia Commons)

There are two Australians in the round of 16 at the 2023 United States Open. In the third round on Friday, Rinky Hijikata of Sydney, the 110th ranked player in the world, defeated Zhizhen Zhang of China, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Then in the third round on Saturday, the 13th seed Alex de Minaur of Sydney, defeated Nicolas Jarry of Chile, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2.

Hijikata defeated Zhang in three hours and 10 minutes. The key difference in the match came down to unforced errors. Hijikata had 36 and Zhang had 47.

De Minaur meanwhile only needed one hour and 45 minutes to beat Medvedev. Once again, it was the unforced error statistic that was the key factor in this match. De Minaur had 10 and Jarry had 41.

However, Hijikata and De Minaur will be in tough in the fourth round. Hijikata will be facing the 10th seed, Frances Tiafoe of the United States at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Sunday. Tiafoe reached the semifinals of the 2022 United States Open. This will be their first head-to-head meeting.

De Minaur will be facing 2021 United States Open champion, and number three seed, Daniil Medvedev of Russia. Medvedev has won four of six prior matches head-to-head. Medvedev won 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the final of Sydney in 2018, 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of Winston Salem in 2018, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 in the third round of the Paris Indoor in 2020, and 6-4, 6-2 in the round robin portion of the 2022 ATP Cup in Australia. De Minaur meanwhile has won the last two meetings. He won 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 in the second round of the Paris Indoor in 2022, and then 7-6,  7-5 in the quarterfinals of Canada’s National Bank Open in Toronto in 2023.

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