AUSSIE OPEN STUNNER HEADS TO TASSIE TOURNAMENT
LESS than 24 hours after claiming a Grand Slam trophy, Australian Open doubles winner Rinky Hijikata is headed to the Burnie Tennis Club to play his next tournament.
Pairing up with Jason Kubler, Hijikata pulled off a surprising grand final win Saturday night, becoming the third all-Aussie pair to win a major doubles title since 2000 after Max Purcell and Matthew Ebden won Wimbledon last year and Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis won the 2022 Australian Open.
Kubler and Hijikata had never played a tournament together and entered the Grand Slam as wildcards, earning huge crowd support with each win.
Their final — against Monaco’s Hugo Nys and Poland’s Jan Zielinski — was played to a packed Rod Laver Arena, with the Aussies winning in straight sets 6-4, 7-6.
Burnie International tournament director Jason Simmons said it was “exciting” to have Hijikata step foot on the local courts — with the Grand Slam winner hitting the court Monday or Tuesday.
Simmons said like many Aussies, he was glued to Saturday night’s men’s doubles final — and was impressed with the homegrown duo’s win.
“The guys got off to a fantastic start and were able to hold the pressure coming back from experience,” he said.
“(The last point) was a pretty awesome point. They were on a run with quite a bit of crowd support.”
Hijikata, 21, started making waves when he took a set off Rafael Nadal at last year’s US Open and fell at the second round in the Australian Open singles against Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, who faced Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s grand final.
Qualifying for the Burnie International began on Sunday, with the start of the men’s singles kicking off today and Tuesday. If Hijikata wins his first round against a qualifier, he will play the winner of Blake Ellis and Luke Saville — who is also a handy Aussie doubles player.