Rinky Hijikata and Ajeet Rai will fight against each other in the 2nd round of the Playford Challenger for the 2nd time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Thursday at 12:30 pm on COURT 3. In this post, we analyze their head to head performance and prediction.
Prediction, odds and live streaming
The pick for Tennis Tonic is Rinky Hijikata who should win in 2 sets.
As per the initial odds, Rinky Hijikata is the pick to win this match.
Rinky Hijikata -> 1.22
Ajeet Rai -> 4.1
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Prediction and head to head Rinky Hijikata vs. Ajeet Rai
This will be the 2nd time that Rinky Hijikata and Ajeet Rai clash against each other. The head to head is 1-0 for Hijikata (see full H2H stats), but they have never competed against each other on hard.
The last time that they locked horns, Hijikata won 7-6(1) 6-3 in the 1st round in M25 Mildura back in 2019.
Rinky Hijikata
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 16-21 | 9-12 | 1-5 | 1-1 | 5-3 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 46-34 | 37-23 | 0-3 | 0-2 | 9-6 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 53-29 | 37-19 | 2-2 | 10-6 | 4-2 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 41-13 | 31-9 | 9-3 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2020 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 192, Rinky reached the 2nd round after beating Philip Sekulic 6-2 6-2.
In the 1st round, Rinky had a good straight sets win against Sekulic (6-2 6-2). During the match, Hijikata scored 57 points vs Sekulic’s 34. Rinky was quite aggressive to blast 25 winners.
Talking about the service games, Hijikata bagged 4 aces and he committed only 1 double fault. Rinky Hijikata was exceptionally efficient on serve to win 89% (25/28) of his 1st serve and 56% (10/18) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. The Australian broke Sekulic 4 times after converting 80% of his break points (4/5).
Hijikata has a solid win-loss record in the last 6 years having won 65% of his matches (114-61). 33-17 on hard in 2022. In connection with his performance on the same surface of this competition, Hijikata has a composed80-37 win-loss record in the last 6 years on hard.
Rinky’s best result of the year was reaching the final in M25 Santo Domingo,M25 Bakersfield,M25 Calabasas and M25 Columbus.
Hijikata has an overall 48-26 win-loss record in 2022, 33-17 on hard (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Playford Challenger
Ajeet Rai
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 13-17 | 9-10 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 29-28 | 19-24 | 4-2 | 1-0 | 5-2 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 38-25 | 38-24 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 22-19 | 22-19 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2020 | 9-5 | 9-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 588 (career-high), Ajeet got to the 2nd round after defeating Jake Delaney 6-1 6-1 and Adam Walton 2-6 6-3 7-5.
In the 1st round against Walton, The Kiwi recovered from a 1-set down deficit before winning (2-6 6-3 7-5). During the match Rai scored 90 points vs Walton’s 84. Ajeet was pretty aggressive to blast 32 winners.
About the serving games, Rai bagged 3 aces and he committed only 3 double faults. Ajeet Rai lost the serve 4 times and he saved 7 break points. Furthermore, Rai put 58% of his first serves in, winning 62% (32/52) of the points behind his 1st serve and 62% (23/37) on the 2nd serve. Rai broke Walton 4 times after converting 50% of his break points (4/8).
The Kiwi’s best result of the current season was getting to the final in M15 Changwon and M25 Tay Ninh.
The Kiwi has a composed 27-19 win-loss record in 2022, 27-18 on hard (See FULL STATS).
H2H Performance in the tournament
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Hijikata | Rai |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 1 | 2 |
| Tot Set | 2 | 5 |
| Tot Games | 16 | 43 |
| Pts | 57-34 | 145-115 |
| Total Points | 91 | 260 |
| Winners | 25 | 48 |
| %Winners | 44% | 33% |
Hijikata played 1 match while Rai competed in 2 matches. Rai started his run from the qualifications while Hijikata had a direct access to the main draw. At the moment, Ajeet Rai lost 1 set while Rinky Hijikata hasn’t lost a set so far. Hijikata has played 3 set(s) less than Rai (2 vs 5). Therefore, Hijikata played 27 games less than Rai. The Australian scored 25 winners (44% of the total points). On the other side, The Kiwi blasted 48 winners (33%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Hijikata | Rai |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 4 | 7 |
| Avg per match | 4 | 3.5 |
| 1st in | 28/46 | 73/127 |
| %1st in | 61% | 57% |
| 1st pts | 25/28 | 48/73 |
| %1st pts | 89% | 66% |
| 2nd pts | 10/18 | 36/54 |
| %2nd pts | 56% | 67% |
Hijikata blasted 4 aces . Rai made 7 aces (3.5 per match). Hijikata won 89% points on his first serve. He very solid his second serve to win 56% of the points. On the other side, Rai won 66% of the points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 67% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Hijikata | Rai |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 4 | 9 |
| Converted | 4/5 | 9/18 |
| % Converted | 80% | 50% |
| Conceded | 1 | 14 |
| Saved | 1 | 10 |
| % Saved | 100% | 71% |
| Times Broken | 0 | 4 |
Hijikata broke his opponent 4 times with a 80% conversion rate. Rinky pretty effective on his serve as he has never conceded a single service game after saving 1 break points. The Kiwi broke his opponents 9 times with a 50% conversion rate. The Kiwi conceded his serve 4 times and he saved 71% of the break points that he conceded.
| Hijikata | |||
| R1 Sekulic |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-2 6-2 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | |
| Tot Games | 16 | 16 | |
| pts | 57-34 | 57-34 | |
| Total points | 91 | 91 | |
| Winners | 25 | 25 | |
| %Winners | 44% | 44% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 4 | 4 | |
| Double Faults | 1 | 1 | |
| 1st in | 28/46 | 28/46 | |
| % 1st in | 61% | 61% | |
| 1st pts | 25/28 | 25/28 | |
| % 1st pts | 89% | 89% | |
| 2nd pts | 10/18 | 10/18 | |
| % 2nd pts | 56% | 56% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 4 | 4 | |
| Converted | 4/5 | 4/5 | |
| Converted % | 80% | 80% | |
| Conceded | 1 | 1 | |
| Saved | 1/1 | 1 | |
| Saved % | 100% | 100% | |
| Times Broken | 0 | 0 | |
| Rai | ||||
| Q3 Delaney |
R1 Walton |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-1 6-1 | 2-6 6-3 7-5 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
| Tot Games | 14 | 29 | 43 | |
| pts | 55-31 | 90-84 | 145-115 | |
| Total points | 86 | 174 | 260 | |
| Winners | 16 | 32 | 48 | |
| %Winners | 29% | 36% | 33% | |
| SERVE | ||||
| Aces | 4 | 3 | 7 | |
| Double Faults | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| 1st in | 21/38 | 52/89 | 73/127 | |
| % 1st in | 55% | 58% | 57% | |
| 1st pts | 16/21 | 32/52 | 48/73 | |
| % 1st pts | 76% | 62% | 66% | |
| 2nd pts | 13/17 | 23/37 | 36/54 | |
| % 2nd pts | 76% | 62% | 67% | |
| Breaks | ||||
| Won | 5 | 4 | 9 | |
| Converted | 5/10 | 4/8 | 9/18 | |
| Converted % | 50% | 50% | 50% | |
| Conceded | 3 | 11 | 14 | |
| Saved | 3/3 | 7/11 | 10 | |
| Saved % | 100% | 64% | 164% | |
| Times Broken | 0 | 4 | 4 | |
Head 2 Head
LWLWWWWLLL
LWWLWWWWLW Tennis Scores in Playford Challenger
- Max PurcellPurcell – Jeremy JinJin (6-2 6-2) – See score progression
- Rinky HijikataHijikata – Philip SekulicSekulic (6-2 6-2) – See score progression
- Jose StathamStatham – Li TuTu (6-4 6-4) – See score progression
- Jordan ThompsonThompson – James McCabeMcCabe (3-6 6-3 6-4) – See score progression
- Dayne KellyKelly – Blake MottMott (6-3 5-7 6-3) – See score progression
- Luke SavilleSaville – Kyle SeeligSeelig (2-6 6-4 6-2) – See score progression
- Ajeet RaiRai – Adam WaltonWalton (2-6 6-3 7-5) – See score progression
- Rio NoguchiNoguchi – Calum PuttergillPuttergill (6-0 6-3) – See score progression
- Blake EllisEllis – Yusuke TakahashiTakahashi (6-2 7-62) – See score progression
- James DuckworthDuckworth – Prajnesh GunneswaranGunneswaran (7-5 6-1) – See score progression
- Dane SweenySweeny – Edward WinterWinter (3-6 6-3 6-2) – See score progression
- Marek GengelGengel – Alex BoltBolt (3-6 6-4 7-64) – See score progression
- Omar JasikaJasika – Mark WhitehouseWhitehouse (6-4 6-4) – See score progression
- Tristan SchoolkateSchoolkate – Jeremy BealeBeale (6-0 6-4) – See score progression
- Yu Hsiou HsuHsiou Hsu – Mukund SasikumarSasikumar (6-4 6-2) – See score progression
- Colin SinclairSinclair – Aleksandar VukicVukic (6-4 3-6 6-2) – See score progression
Upcoming matches in the draw
- Jose StathamStatham – Dayne KellyKelly (4-1) – H2H and prediction
- Luke SavilleSaville – Rio NoguchiNoguchi (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Jordan ThompsonThompson – Tristan SchoolkateSchoolkate (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Max PurcellPurcell – Colin SinclairSinclair (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Blake EllisEllis – Omar JasikaJasika (1-0) – H2H and prediction
- Marek GengelGengel – James DuckworthDuckworth (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Dane SweenySweeny – Yu Hsiou HsuHsiou Hsu (0-1) – H2H and prediction
- Rinky HijikataHijikata – Ajeet RaiRai (1-0) – H2H and prediction
