Rolex Paris Masters: Frenchman Luca Van Assche continues his epic and reaches the semi-finals

He had never passed two rounds in a Masters 1000 before this week, and here he is in the semi-finals of the Rolex Paris Masters. Luca Van Assche, 22 years old and 47th player in the world, lit up the Plenitude Arena in Nanterre on Friday by defeating the Australian Rinky Hijikata (6-4, 6-7, 7-5) after 2h44 of play. The latter, 25 years old, 83rd in the ATP and from qualifying, was even less expected at this level. But he struck a big blow by eliminating Novak Djokovic in the second round (2-6, 6-3, 6-3).

This time, Hijikata did not last long against Van Assche, winner of the first set thanks to his excellent service. Trailing 0-3 at the start of the second set, the Frenchman got back to 3-3 by forcing his opponent to multiply errors, inflicting a shutout on his own serve. In a round as close as it was spectacular, Van Assche had to force himself to snatch a tie-break. Trailing 2-6, he came back to 4-6 before breaking down on a third set point.

A shutout to conclude

The decisive round also started badly for the 22-year-old right-hander, broken from the start and trailing 0-2. Full of resources, galvanized by a public logically won over to his cause, he broke to get back together (2-2) and found himself, twice, one game from the match (5-4 then 6-5). The second was good. After a double fault, Hijikata missed his way to the net and conceded a final shutout.