Rinky Hijikata and Yuta Shimizu will fight against each other in the final of the Playford Challenger for the 3rd time in their career. They are scheduled to play on Sunday at 11:00 am on CENTRE COURT. In the following paragraphs, 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 -> 1.31
Yuta Shimizu -> 3.2
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Prediction and head to head Rinky Hijikata vs. Yuta Shimizu
This will be the 3rd time that Rinky Hijikata and Yuta Shimizu square off. The head to head is 1-1 for Hijikata and Shimizu (see full H2H stats),but they are 1-1 on hard.
The last time that they played each other, Hijikata won 6-1 6-4 in the semifinal in the Burnie Challenger back in 2023.
Rinky Hijikata
31 - 32win/loss
73
62
LWWWWWWWWW | Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 36-33 | 29-21 | 1-6 | 1-1 | 5-5 | 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. 83, the Australian reached the final after beating Emile Hudd 7-6(4) 7-6(2), Dane Sweeny 6-4 6-3, Omar Jasika 5-7 7-6(4) 6-3 and Masamichi Imamura 5-7 6-4 6-4.
In the semifinal against Imamura, The Australian recovered from a 1-set down deficit before winning (5-7 6-4 6-4). During the match, Hijikata scored 105 points vs Imamura’s 95. The Australian was very aggressive to blast 36 winners.
Regarding the service games, Hijikata scored 4 aces and he committed only 3 double faults. Rinky Hijikata lost the serve 5 times and he saved 5 break points. Furthermore, Hijikata put 57% of his first serves in, winning 69% (36/52) of the points behind his 1st serve and 48% (19/40) on the 2nd serve. Hijikata broke Imamura 6 times after converting 46% of his break points (6/13).
Overall Performance in this tournament
The Australian has surrendered 2 set in this tournament to conquer 53% of the points he played.
Hijikata has a solid record in the last 8 years having won 60% of his matches (196-130). 24-20 on hard in 2024. Talking about his performance on the same surface of this event, Hijikata has an aggregate145-82 win-loss record in the last 8 years on hard.
Hijikata’s best result of the current year was reaching the semifinal in the Playford Challenger.
Rinky has a compiled 31-32 win-loss record in 2024, 24-20 on hard (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Playford Challenger
Yuta Shimizu
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 39-29 | 35-25 | 0-0 | 4-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 36-24 | 35-23 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 44-23 | 36-21 | 7-1 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 18-12 | 12-8 | 0-0 | 5-4 | 1-0 | 0-0 |
| 2020 | 11-1 | 6-1 | 0-0 | 5-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 247, Yuta got to the final after defeating Blake Mott 6-3 7-5, Yuki Mochizuki 7-6(8) 6-2, Li Tu 6-4 6-2 and Marc Polmans 6-0 6-3.
In the semifinal, Shimizu had a good straight sets win against Polmans (6-0 6-3). During the match Shimizu scored 54 points vs Polmans’s 31. Yuta was very aggressive to blast 22 winners.
About the serving games, Shimizu recorded 5 aces and he committed only 1 double fault for the entire match. Yuta Shimizu lost the serve once and he saved 1 break points. Furthermore, Shimizu put 55% of his first serves in, winning 85% (22/26) of the points behind his 1st serve and 48% (10/21) on the 2nd serve. Shimizu broke Polmans 5 times after converting 63% of his break points (5/8).
Overall Performance in this tournament
The Japanese hasn’t dropped yet a set in the tournament to win 57% of the points he played.
The Japanese’s best result of the year was reaching the final in the Little Rock Challenger.
Shimizu has a compiled 29-25 win-loss record in 2024, 25-22 on hard (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Playford Challenger
Previously, his best result was reaching the quarter in 2023. See his history.
H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Hijikata | Shimizu |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 4 | 4 |
| Tot Set | 10 | 8 |
| Tot Games | 111 | 75 |
| Pts | 381-343 | 264-196 |
| Total Points | 724 | 460 |
| Winners | 151 | 113 |
| %Winners | 40% | 43% |
Both Hijikata and Shimizu played 4 matches. At the moment, Rinky Hijikata surrendered 2 sets while Yuta Shimizu hasn’t lost a set so far. Hijikata has played 2 sets more than Shimizu (10 vs 8). Therefore, Hijikata played 36 games more than Shimizu. Rinky scored 151 winners (40% of the total points). On the other side, The Japanese blasted 113 winners (43%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Hijikata | Shimizu |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 15 | 14 |
| Avg per match | 3.8 | 3.5 |
| 1st in | 209/356 | 150/237 |
| %1st in | 59% | 63% |
| 1st pts | 151/209 | 113/150 |
| %1st pts | 72% | 75% |
| 2nd pts | 68/147 | 44/87 |
| %2nd pts | 46% | 51% |
Hijikata blasted 15 aces (3.8 per match). Shimizu managed to score 14 aces (3.5 per match). Hijikata won 72% points behind his first serve. He was rock solid on his second serve to win 46% of the points. On the other side, Shimizu won 75% of the points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 51% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Hijikata | Shimizu |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 17 | 18 |
| Converted | 17/41 | 18/32 |
| % Converted | 41% | 56% |
| Conceded | 29 | 13 |
| Saved | 16 | 6 |
| % Saved | 55% | 46% |
| Times Broken | 13 | 7 |
Hijikata broke his opponents 17 times with a 41% conversion rate. Hijikata surrendered his serve 13 times and he saved 55% of the break points that he conceded. Shimizu broke his opponents 18 times with a 56% conversion rate. The Japanese conceded his serve 7 times and he saved 46% of the break points that he conceded.
| Hijikata | ||||||
| R1 Hudd |
R2 Sweeny |
1/4 Jasika |
1/2 Imamura |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 7-64 7-62 | 6-4 6-3 | 5-7 7-64 6-3 | 5-7 6-4 6-4 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 10 | |
| Tot Games | 26 | 19 | 34 | 32 | 111 | |
| pts | 103-88 | 66-54 | 107-106 | 105-95 | 381-343 | |
| Total points | 191 | 120 | 213 | 200 | 724 | |
| Winners | 39 | 26 | 50 | 36 | 151 | |
| %Winners | 38% | 39% | 47% | 34% | 40% | |
| SERVE | ||||||
| Aces | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 15 | |
| Double Faults | 7 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 16 | |
| 1st in | 54/95 | 36/61 | 67/108 | 52/92 | 209/356 | |
| % 1st in | 57% | 59% | 62% | 57% | 59% | |
| 1st pts | 39/54 | 26/36 | 50/67 | 36/52 | 151/209 | |
| % 1st pts | 72% | 72% | 75% | 69% | 72% | |
| 2nd pts | 20/41 | 11/25 | 18/41 | 19/40 | 68/147 | |
| % 2nd pts | 49% | 44% | 44% | 48% | 46% | |
| Breaks | ||||||
| Won | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 17 | |
| Converted | 3/12 | 5/6 | 3/10 | 6/13 | 17/41 | |
| Converted % | 25% | 83% | 30% | 46% | 41% | |
| Conceded | 6 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 29 | |
| Saved | 3/6 | 4/6 | 4/7 | 5/10 | 16 | |
| Saved % | 50% | 67% | 57% | 50% | 56% | |
| Times Broken | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 13 | |
| Shimizu | ||||||
| R1 Mott |
R2 Mochizuki |
1/4 Tu |
1/2 Polmans |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-3 7-5 | 7-68 6-2 | 6-4 6-2 | 6-0 6-3 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |
| Tot Games | 21 | 21 | 18 | 15 | 75 | |
| pts | 71-54 | 77-62 | 62-49 | 54-31 | 264-196 | |
| Total points | 125 | 139 | 111 | 85 | 460 | |
| Winners | 38 | 27 | 26 | 22 | 113 | |
| %Winners | 54% | 35% | 42% | 41% | 43% | |
| SERVE | ||||||
| Aces | 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 14 | |
| Double Faults | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | |
| 1st in | 49/68 | 43/63 | 32/59 | 26/47 | 150/237 | |
| % 1st in | 72% | 68% | 54% | 55% | 63% | |
| 1st pts | 38/49 | 27/43 | 26/32 | 22/26 | 113/150 | |
| % 1st pts | 78% | 63% | 81% | 85% | 75% | |
| 2nd pts | 8/19 | 13/20 | 13/27 | 10/21 | 44/87 | |
| % 2nd pts | 42% | 65% | 48% | 48% | 51% | |
| Breaks | ||||||
| Won | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 18 | |
| Converted | 4/8 | 5/10 | 4/6 | 5/8 | 18/32 | |
| Converted % | 50% | 50% | 67% | 63% | 56% | |
| Conceded | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 13 | |
| Saved | 3/5 | 1/4 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 6 | |
| Saved % | 60% | 25% | 50% | 50% | 46% | |
| Times Broken | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
Head 2 Head
LWWWWWWWWW
LWWWWWWWLL 
Upcoming matches in the draw
- Rinky HijikataHijikata – Yuta ShimizuShimizu (1-1) – H2H and prediction
