Matteo Arnaldi, fatal double tie-break at Queen’s

Matteo Arnaldi-Rinky Hijikata 6-7 6-7

Matteo Arnaldi did not repeat at the Queen's ATP 500. After a fine victory over Humbert in the opener, the Ligurian succumbed to Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata, No. 98 in the ATP rankings, who è imposed himself with a final score of 7-6 7-6 after more than two hours of play.

The balance in the first set is broken early: at 2-2, in fact, Arnaldi cedes service to Hijikata, who confirms the break lead and doubles it in the seventh game (5-2). Here però comes a vehement reaction of the blue who completes the comeback (5-5), also canceling a set point. At the tie-break forò there is no history: the Australian wins it by 7 points to 0.

In the second partial è Arnaldi the first to get break ball: the blue, however, did not take advantage of the opportunity in the third game and wasted two more in the seventh, chasing in the score. At 5-4 Hijikata gets two match points in response but the Ligurian manages to save them and take the second set to the tie-break as well. The decisive game è still fatal to Arnaldi: the blue goes down 3-6, cancels 3 more match points to his opponent, but in the seventh he has to surrender.

Arnaldi thus bids farewell to Queen's, while Hijikata flies to the quarterfinals where he will face the winner of the challenge between Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, third seed in the seeding, and Sebastian Korda, number 23 in the world rankings.