Hijikata fights back to reach first Paris Masters quarter-final

A comeback that kept the run alive

Rinky Hijikata refused to let the most remarkable week of his singles career end quietly in Paris. One day after beating Novak Djokovic, the Australian qualifier came from a set down to defeat Tomas Martin Etcheverry 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 on Thursday, 5 November, and reach his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final at the Rolex Paris Masters.

The victory, completed in two hours and six minutes, carried Hijikata into the last eight of a Masters 1000 event for the first time. It also moved him into the world's top 60 for the first time in his career, with live rankings placing him at No. 59 after the match. The 25-year-old began the tournament in qualifying, ranked No. 83, and has now beaten five higher-ranked players in Paris.

Hijikata will play Frenchman Luca Van Assche in the quarter-finals on Friday, 6 November. A win there would lift him to No. 48 in the world. Van Assche, ranked No. 47, reached his first Masters quarter-final on the same day by beating Lorenzo Musetti 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. The two men have never played each other before.

From qualifier to quarter-finalist

Hijikata arrived in Paris without the profile of a title contender. He had to win his way through qualifying just to reach the main draw, and his reward in the second round was a meeting with Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam champion. Hijikata lost the first set of that match, too, before fighting back to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 and end Djokovic's season and his hopes of qualifying for the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin.

Thursday brought a different kind of test. Etcheverry, the world No. 31 from Argentina, had already shown his quality in Paris by beating eighth seed Alex de Minaur 7-6 (2), 6-3 in the previous round. He was not an opponent to be overwhelmed by reputation, and for the first set he was the better player.

Hijikata steadied himself instead, trusting his movement and his ability to extend rallies. In both of his past two matches, he has lost the opening set and still found a way to win.

Etcheverry pushed him to the edge

Etcheverry took the first set 6-2 with the kind of clean, confident tennis that had carried him past de Minaur. He struck the ball well from the baseline and gave Hijikata little time to settle. For a player who had already spent so much emotional and physical energy beating Djokovic, the danger of a flat start was real.

Hijikata steadied himself in the second set. He won it 6-3, levelling the match and shifting the pressure back onto Etcheverry. The Argentine had beaten de Minaur in straight sets, but he had not yet been asked to close out a match against an opponent playing with the freedom of a qualifier on a run.

The deciding set went to 7-5. Neither player gave ground easily, and the match was decided in the closing games, when Hijikata held his nerve better. He completed the win after two hours and six minutes, a measure of how hard Etcheverry had made him work for every point.

What comes next in Paris

Van Assche will have the crowd behind him on Friday. The Frenchman beat Musetti, the player who had knocked out new world No. 1 Alexander Zverev in the previous round, in a seesaw match that lasted three sets. Van Assche came back from two break points down at 3-4 in the third set, then won 12 of the next 13 points to seal the match.

That comeback gives the quarter-final a clear shape. Hijikata has made a habit of recovering from a slow start, while Van Assche has shown he can turn a match around in front of a home crowd. Both men are playing in their first Masters quarter-final, and both have already exceeded expectations in Paris.

For Hijikata, the occasion is also a chance to extend a run that began in qualifying. He has already beaten five higher-ranked players, and a sixth would take him into a Masters semi-final.

A draw that keeps opening up

The Paris draw has opened up further with every round. Zverev, Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Frances Tiafoe all lost early, and the quarter-final lineup now mixes established contenders with first-time quarter-finalists.

In the other quarter-finals, third seed Ben Shelton will play fellow American Tommy Paul in an all-American match. Shelton beat Arthur Rinderknech 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) on Thursday for a season-best 43rd win of 2026, while Paul beat Quentin Halys 7-6 (3), 6-4. Taylor Fritz will play second seed Carlos Alcaraz after beating Arthur Fils 6-3, 6-4, with 14 aces and no break points faced. Alcaraz advanced after Matteo Berrettini withdrew from their third-round match with an arm injury.

Casper Ruud will play Nuno Borges in the remaining quarter-final. Borges, a lucky loser, beat Ignacio Buse 6-0, 6-2 to become the first lucky loser to reach the quarter-finals in the history of the Paris Masters. Ruud beat Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-3.

Two places remain for the ATP Finals in Turin, which runs from 15 to 22 November, and several of the players still in Paris are chasing them. Hijikata has no such calculation to make. His task is simpler, and in Paris that has been enough: win the next match, and see how far the run goes.