Rinky Hijikata and Masamichi Imamura will square off in the semifinal of the Playford Challenger for the 1^st time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Saturday at 4:00 pm on CENTRE COURT. In the following lines you can find the head to head analysis 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 -> 1.186
Masamichi Imamura -> 4.3

Click here to see the updated quotes and live streaming (only selected countries - USA excluded).

To be able to watch live streaming bet365, a funded account is required or you need to have placed a bet in the last 24 hours. 18+ BeGambleAware.

Here where top tennis events are broadcasted or streamed online (ATP, WTA).

At the challenger level, there will be free live streaming on Challenger TV.

 

Prediction and head to head Rinky Hijikata vs. Masamichi Imamura

There is no head to head record between Rinky Hijikata and Masamichi Imamura since this will be the first time that they will play each other in the main tour.

Rinky Hijikata

Ranked no. 83, Hijikata reached the semifinal after beating Emile Hudd 7-6(4) 7-6(2), Dane Sweeny 6-4 6-3 and Omar Jasika 5-7 7-6(4) 6-3.

In the quarter against Jasika, The Australian recovered from a 1-set down deficit before winning (5-7 7-6⁴ 6-3). During the match, Hijikata scored 107 points vs Jasika’s 106. The Australian was very aggressive to blast 50 winners.

Talking about the service games, Hijikata recorded 4 aces and he committed only 4 double faults. Rinky Hijikata lost the serve 3 times and he saved 4 break points. Furthermore, Hijikata put 62% of his first serves in, winning 75% (50/67) of the points behind his 1st serve and 44% (18/41) on the 2nd serve. Rinky broke Jasika 3 times after converting 30% of his break points (3/10).

Overall Performance in this tournament

Rinky has dropped 1 set in this competition to win 53% of the points he played.

Hijikata has a solid record in the last 8 years having won 60% of his matches (195-130). 23-20 on hard in 2024. Talking about his performance on the same surface of this tournament, Hijikata has a compiled144-82 win-loss record in the last 8 years on hard.

The Australian has an aggregate 30-32 win-loss record in 2024, 23-20 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Previously in the Playford Challenger

Masamichi Imamura

Ranked no. 409, Masamichi reached the semifinal after beating Colin Sinclair 7-6(4) 6-3, Thomas Fancutt 6-3 6-1 and Tristan Schoolkate 6-4 3-6 7-5.

In the quarter, Masamichi defeated Schoolkate (6-4 3-6 7-5). During the match Imamura scored 97 points vs Schoolkate’s 89. Masamichi was extremely aggressive to blast 48 winners.

About the serving games, Imamura made 6 aces and he committed only 1 double fault for the entire match. Overall, Masamichi Imamura was pretty efficient on serve to win 80% (48/60) of his 1st serve and 52% (12/23) on the second serve. However, this didn’t prevent his to concede the serve once. Masamichi broke Schoolkate twice after converting 40% of his break points (2/5).

Overall Performance in this tournament

Imamura has conceded 1 set in the tournament to win 54% of the points he played.

Masamichi’s best result of the current year was reaching the final in M15 Kashiwa,M25 Changwon,M15 Tokyo,M25 Roehampton and M25 Takasaki.

Masamichi has a composed 53-23 win-loss record in 2024, 46-20 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Previously in the Playford Challenger

Imamura has never competed in this tournament before.

H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)

Matches, sets, games and points

Points	Hijikata	Imamura
Match played	3	3
Tot Set	7	7
Tot Games	79	69
Pts	276-248	225-191
Total Points	524	416
Winners	115	109
%Winners	42%	48%

Both Hijikata and Imamura played 3 matches. Both players lost a set in the event. Rinky Hijikata conceded 1 set, while Masamichi Imamura conceded 1 set. Talking about their workload, Hijikata and Imamura have played the same amount of sets 7. However, Hijikata played 10 games more than Imamura. The Australian scored 115 winners (42% of the total points). On the other side, Imamura blasted 109 winners (48%).

Serve Performance

Serve	Hijikata	Imamura
Aces	11	14
Avg per match	3.7	4.7
1st in	157/264	140/198
%1st in	59%	71%
1st pts	115/157	109/140
%1st pts	73%	78%
2nd pts	49/107	33/58
%2nd pts	46%	57%

Hijikata bagged 11 aces (3.7 per match). Imamura scored 14 aces (4.7 per match). Hijikata won 73% points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 46% of the points. On the other side, Imamura won 78% of the points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 57% of the points.

How they played the important points

Breaks	Hijikata	Imamura
Won	11	8
Converted	11/28	8/19
% Converted	39%	42%
Conceded	19	8
Saved	11	6
% Saved	58%	75%
Times Broken	8	2

Rinky broke his opponents 11 times with a 39% conversion rate. Hijikata lost his serve 8 times and he saved 58% of the break points that he conceded. Imamura broke his opponents 8 times with a 42% conversion rate. The Japanese conceded his serve twice and he saved 75% of the break points that he conceded.

Hijikata
	R1 Hudd	R2 Sweeny	1/4 Jasika	Total
Score	7-64 7-62	6-4 6-3	5-7 7-64 6-3
Tot Set	2	2	3	7
Tot Games	26	19	34	79
pts	103-88	66-54	107-106	276-248
Total points	191	120	213	524
Winners	39	26	50	115
%Winners	38%	39%	47%	42%
SERVE
Aces	3	4	4	11
Double Faults	7	2	4	13
1st in	54/95	36/61	67/108	157/264
% 1st in	57%	59%	62%	59%
1st pts	39/54	26/36	50/67	115/157
% 1st pts	72%	72%	75%	73%
2nd pts	20/41	11/25	18/41	49/107
% 2nd pts	49%	44%	44%	46%
Breaks
Won	3	5	3	11
Converted	3/12	5/6	3/10	11/28
Converted %	25%	83%	30%	39%
Conceded	6	6	7	19
Saved	3/6	4/6	4/7	11
Saved %	50%	67%	57%	58%
Times Broken	3	2	3	8

Imamura
	R1 Sinclair	R2 Fancutt	1/4 Schoolkate	Total
Score	7-64 6-3	6-3 6-1	6-4 3-6 7-5
Tot Set	2	2	3	7
Tot Games	22	16	31	69
pts	74-64	54-38	97-89	225-191
Total points	138	92	186	416
Winners	35	26	48	109
%Winners	47%	48%	49%	48%
SERVE
Aces	4	4	6	14
Double Faults	2	0	1	3
1st in	46/71	34/44	60/83	140/198
% 1st in	65%	77%	72%	71%
1st pts	35/46	26/34	48/60	109/140
% 1st pts	76%	76%	80%	78%
2nd pts	15/25	6/10	12/23	33/58
% 2nd pts	60%	60%	52%	57%
Breaks
Won	2	4	2	8
Converted	2/8	4/6	2/5	8/19
Converted %	25%	67%	40%	42%
Conceded	3	0	5	8
Saved	2/3	0/0	4/5	6
Saved %	67%	–	80%	49%
Times Broken	1	0	1	2

Tennis Scores in Playford Challenger

• Rinky HijikataHijikata – Omar JasikaJasika (5-7 7-6⁴ 6-3) – See score progression
• Masamichi ImamuraImamura – Tristan SchoolkateSchoolkate (6-4 3-6 7-5) – See score progression
• Marc PolmansPolmans – Shintaro MochizukiMochizuki (2-6 6-4 6-4) – See score progression
• Yuta ShimizuShimizu – Li TuTu (6-4 6-2) – See score progression
• Seita Watanabe/Takeru YuzukiWatanabe/Takeru Yuzuki – Matthew Hulme/James WattHulme/James Watt (6-3 6-3) – See score progression
• Jake Delaney/Jesse DelaneyDelaney/Jesse Delaney – Tristan Schoolkate/Li TuSchoolkate/Li Tu (1-6 7-6⁵ 10-8) – See score progression
• Calum Puttergill/Dane SweenyPuttergill/Dane Sweeny – Rinky Hijikata/Mac KigerHijikata/Mac Kiger (6-4 6-7⁴ 16-14) – See score progression

Upcoming matches in the draw

• Marc PolmansPolmans – Yuta ShimizuShimizu (2-2) – H2H and prediction
• Rinky HijikataHijikata – Masamichi ImamuraImamura (0-0) – H2H and prediction