Australian Rinki Hijikata defeated Mexican 6-3, 4-0 (ret) Rodrigo Pacheco and agreed to the round of 16 of the Los Cabos Tennis Open, in which he will play with the Russian Daniil Medvedev.
Considered the promise of tennis in his country, the 17-year-old Mexican started wellagainst an opponent who needed to come from behind and shake off two break points to avoid a break in game two.
With quick shots to the corners and good mobility, the Mexican teenager kept up the good game until in the fifth “game” Hijikata, 224 in the world ranking, broke to go ahead 3-2.
Pacheco showed signs of weakness, it was later learned that his hand was injured. He insisted on doing damage with his ‘drive’ and at times he succeeded, however, the Australian shored up his service with five ‘aces’ and, after another break, in the ninth game, he won the set 6-3 in 46 minutes. .
Hijikata, who came from the qualifying tournament, realized that the rival was depleted; he patiently hurt his serve, with good shots to the angles and was soon ahead 2-0.
After making some unforced errors, Pacheco received medical attention, returned, but after suffering a second break, he retired.
“I fell in the hotel and injured my hand; I retired because I could no longer enjoybut I know I will come back to this tournament, not with a wild card, but with my ATP points,” the rookie said.
A little earlier, Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis led Frenchman Quentin Halys 7-6(1), 7-5, in a close match in which the winner was more accurate in the decisive points.
The Los Cabos Open, on hard court, is one of the favorite 250 category tournaments for players prior to the US Open tour that takes place on a hard court, near the United States, a week before the Master 1,000 in Montreal, Canada, and two prior to Cincinnati.
