Luca Van Assche 2-1 Rinky Hijikata — 13 aces decide a three-set Paris quarterfinal

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Thirteen aces to seven, 19 games to 16, 113 points to 99. Luca Van Assche's Paris quarterfinal against Rinky Hijikata was never a coin flip on the numbers — it just took three sets and one tiebreak to prove it. The 2-1 ledger reads 6-4, 6-7, 7-5.

The opener set the template: Van Assche landed 5 of his 13 aces, won 13 return points to Hijikata's 5, converted one of the four break points he earned and closed 6-4. Hijikata kept saving break points — three of four — to stay in touch. The second set flipped the script in every way but the one that counted: Hijikata won 23 return points, broke once, and even with Van Assche outpointing him 31-25 on serve while saving five of six break points, the set slid to a tiebreak — the only one of the match — which Hijikata took at 7-6.

Set three demanded three breaks. Van Assche scored two, went 0/1 in break saves, and closed 7-5 while Hijikata rescued just one of three break points. Across the match the margins stayed thin but tilted one way: 72-62 service points, 41-37 on return, 4 break conversions to 2.

Van Assche's serve was the whole argument: 65% first serves in to Hijikata's 64%, 55 first-serve points won to 47, 13 aces to 7, and three double faults apiece. His 71% break-point save rate (5 of 7) outgunned Hijikata's 50% (4 of 8), and that gap is where the match truly lived.

Hijikata owned the second set and the tiebreak; Van Assche owned the numbers and the decider. Aces, first-strike points, break saves — the serve kept earning chances until the last break locked the decider at 7-5.