“Happy to have turned the situation around” – Van Assche beats Hijikata to reach his first Masters 1000 semi-final in Paris, sets up Shelton clash
Luca Van Assche, the last Frenchman in the draw, came back from 2-0 down in the decider to beat qualifier Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5, reach the Rolex Paris Masters semi-finals, his first at Masters 1000 level, and move into the top 35.
Lucas Van Assche, Rolex Paris Masters 2026 | © Chryslène Caillaud / PsNewz
Luca Van Assche, the last Frenchman in the draw, did not let the Paris crowd down on Friday night. He beat qualifier Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5 in 2 hours and 44 minutes on Court Central at the Plenitude Arena to reach the semi-finals of the Rolex Paris Masters, the first Masters 1000 semi-final of his career.
Trailing 2-0 in the decider, he turned the match around, broke Hijikata to love at 6-5 and sealed the win on his first match point, forcing the Australian to put one last backhand volley into the net.
The win will take the world No. 47 into the top 35, and he can dream of more on Saturday against third seed Ben Shelton, who beat Tommy Paul 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 earlier in the day to reach his first semi-final in Paris.
Hijikata, ranked No. 83 at the start of the week, leaves La Défense with the best ranking of his career, inside the top 60.
Van Assche ready for Shelton
“I’m a bit tired,” Van Assche admitted on court. “Once again, it was an incredible match,” he added, a day after another tussle, against Lorenzo Musetti.
“He is an incredible player. He had some great wins this week, notably against Djokovic,” he said of Hijikata. “I think the surface suited him well, he has a very flat game, he is very aggressive, and it wasn’t easy for me. But I’m happy with the way I was able to bounce back.”
“It’s true that losing the second set hurt a bit, and the start of the third was quite complicated,” he added. “I’m happy to have turned the situation around, and it’s a pleasure to win here in Paris.”
Next comes Shelton. “It’s going to be complicated,” Van Assche said. “Now I’m going to do everything to recover well, and I’m going to do everything to win tomorrow.”
Fewer errors, and the last word in the decider
Van Assche took the only break of the first set at 4-4, then trailed 3-0 in the second before breaking back. He saved break points in two long service games at 3-3 and 4-4, but Hijikata, who had led the tie-break 6-2, took it 7-4.
Hijikata carried his momentum into the decider and led 2-0, but Van Assche hit back. Neither player held back from then on, with winners flowing from both sides. At 6-5, with Hijikata serving to stay in the match, a forehand passing shot from Van Assche, his second in three points, and a double fault from the Australian gave the Frenchman three match points. He needed only one.
Hijikata hit more winners (47 to 39), but made 41 unforced errors to Van Assche’s 20.
The Australian kept rushing forward, more and more as the decider drew to a close, but Van Assche was waiting for him. Hijikata came to the net 43 times and won only 25 of those points, while the Frenchman, far more selective, won 11 of his 13 trips forward. It was at the net that the match ended: on match point, Hijikata moved in once more and put a backhand volley into the net.
The Frenchman hit 13 aces to Hijikata’s seven, saved five of the seven break points he faced and won eight of the last ten points, according to Flashscore.
Hijikata: “He came up with the goods when he needed to”
Hijikata pointed to a turning point at 2-0 in the decider. “I think it was new balls at two-love in the third, and I thought he started serving a lot better with the new balls and was getting maybe a bit more in his groundstrokes too,” he said. “He was playing a bit more aggressive and the crowd was starting to get behind him. He was using the crowd well. Credit to him, he’s playing some serious ball and came up with the goods when he needed to.”
The Australian lost his last service game to love. “Besides the one double fault, I don’t know if I did much wrong. He came up with some great returns, I think he came up with a great pass. He started passing really well towards the end of the match,” he said. “I went after it, I felt like I stuck to my guns as well as I could. It’s disappointing it didn’t go my way, but I backed myself, and sometimes it’s all you can ask for.”
Van Assche, the last French hope
Van Assche had beaten Mariano Navone 6-3, 7-5, 15th seed Learner Tien 7-6 (4), 6-4, then Lorenzo Musetti 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, two weeks after losing to the Italian in Lyon. Hijikata, who came through qualifying, had knocked out Novak Djokovic and Tomas Martin Etcheverry, both times after losing the first set.
Van Assche is now the only Frenchman left in the singles draw, after Arthur Fils lost to Taylor Fritz on Thursday night. “I hope we’ll have a Frenchman in the semi-finals, in the final, and maybe even the winner,” Fils said after his defeat. The first part of his wish has come true.
Rolex Paris Masters 2026 quarter-final results
Ben Shelton (3) d. Tommy Paul (12) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Luca Van Assche d. Rinky Hijikata (Q) 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5
Carlos Alcaraz (2) vs Taylor Fritz (11) (Friday, not before 7 p.m.)
Nuno Borges (LL) vs Casper Ruud (Friday, not before 8:30 p.m.)
