There were no wins, but many valuable lessons, after Tristan Schoolkate, Rinky Hijikata and Destanee Aiava exited in the Roland Garros 2025 first round.
Paris, France , 26 May 2025 | Vivienne Chrisite
Roland Garros debutantes Tristan Schoolkate and Destanee Aiava have each emerged stronger from the experience after their Roland Garros 2025 campaigns ended in the opening round.
Schoolkate was unable to advance past the more experienced Marton Fucsovics, while Aiava exited to hard-hitting Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska on a rain-impacted day at the claycourt Slam.
“I think it was a great experience, great learning to see the level these guys (achieve). Why they’ve been at that ranking and are such calibre of players for so long,” said Schoolkate after Fucsovics’ 6-4 6-2 6-2 win.
Striking 38 winners against 21 unforced errors in an all-round imposing performance, Fucsovics gave Schoolkate few opportunities in their two hour, 17-minute match.
“There’s a lot I can improve on and I’m happy to do that work and improve and hopefully be back next year and do better again,” the West Australian said.
Aiava conceded she couldn’t assert authority in the face of 23 winners from Yastremska, who navigated a challenging opening set before emerging with a 7-5 6-1 victory.
“I think I’m someone who kind of likes a bit of rhythm. I kind of felt the same thing in my match against [Danielle] Collins [in the AO 2025 second round],” Aiava conceded after her one hour and 14 minutes on court.
“It’s a different kind of game type that I have to get more experience with. She’s obviously a big hitter. It just wasn’t as consistent as I liked it to be.”
Still, there is an important takeaway for Aiava, who celebrated her 25th birthday earlier this month.
“I need to get better with controlling my emotions when things look like or feel like they’re getting too far away from me,” she said.
“Especially going down a break and automatically thinking I’ve lost … It’s kind of a natural response that I have all the time. It’s something that I really do need to work on.”
It’s also back to work for fellow Australian Rinky Hijikata, who was unable to capitalise on a first-set lead against Reilly Opelka in their first round match.
HIjikata took the first set in just 18 minutes before Opelka’s imposing serve became a factor in the American’s 1-6 1-6 6-3 7-5 7-6(3) victory.
“I played a bit of a loose game, then I felt like from there he started really picking it up and in third and fourth [sets], I felt like he served exceptionally,” said Hijikata, having faced 22 aces among 60 total winners from the 211 centimetre American.
“I didn’t really get a look. He played some really good shots. There were one or two chances where I had to capitalise, but I didn’t. He came up with some pretty good stuff when he needed to, especially in the fourth set.”
Hijikata can recognise the broader positives in his 2025 claycourt season, in which he qualified for the Madrid Masters and was a semifinalist at the ATP Challenger in Bordeaux.
“This is the longest I’ve spent on clay in a long, long time. I did feel like I was figuring it out, which maybe makes this (loss) a little bit more frustrating,” he conceded.
“I honestly felt like I could have done something this year. I feel like I’m very close and even you look at the matches I’ve lost over the clay swing, there’s a lot of close matches against a lot of quality players.
“I am starting to figure it out. I feel like next year I can come here and feel like I can get some good results. I do think it’s a surface I can play on. I think a lot of part of my game now, I’ve realised can match up well … I’m confident moving forward.”
Aussies in action
RESULTS – Roland Garros Day 1
Men’s singles, first roundReilly Opelka d Rinky Hijikata 1-6 6-3 7-5 7-6(3)Marton Fucsovics d [WC] Tristan Schoolkate 6-4 6-2 6-2
Women’s singles first roundDayana Yastremska d [WC] Destanee Aiava 7-5 6-1
COMING UP – Roland Garros Day 2
Men’s singles, first round[25] Alexei Popyrin (AUS) v Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) First match, Court 6Jordan Thompson (AUS) v Jiri Lehecka (CZE) Second match, Court 4Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) v [24] Karen Khachanov Third match, Court 12Chris O’Connell (AUS) v [22] Ugo Humbert (FRA) Last match, Court 14
Women’s singles, first round[Q] Daria Saville v [7] Madison Keys Last match, Simonne-Matthieu CourtMaya Joint (AUS) v Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) Second match, Court 9Kimberly Birrell (AUS) v Jaqueline Cristian (ROU) Second match, Court 13[17] Daria Kasatkina (AUS) v Katerina Siniakova (CZE) Third match, Court 6
