Rinky Hijikata vs Dalibor Svrcina — R32 — Hangzhou Open

Rinky Hijikata came through his Hangzhou Open opener in straight sets against Dalibor Svrcina, the 23-year-old Czech qualifier whom the betting market had made a 57% favorite despite his ATP No. 128 ranking. The two traded seven breaks of serve in 22 games over 1 hour 57 minutes. Hijikata broke in game 2 of the first set, Svrcina answered in game 5, and the set was decided in a tiebreak that Hijikata won. Five more breaks followed in the second. Hijikata took the first two for 3-0, Svrcina recovered one in game 4 and leveled at 4-4 by breaking in game 8, and Hijikata broke again in game 9 before serving out the match. Svrcina finished with nine double faults, five of them in the second set. He converted three of five break points to Hijikata's four of ten, with half the chances. Hijikata came in at 10-11 on hard courts this season, having lost his previous two on the surface, most recently in the US Open first round.