The first key to a winning doubles combination is to find yourself a good partner. And to find yourself a good partner, you might as well start at the top.

So, how does one manage to book a date with a grand slam doubles champion and Wimbledon finalist only a few months ago?

“I had to try to lock him down a few weeks in advance,” Marc Polmans laughs. “I’ll take (credit for) that one.”

Rinky Hijikata’s focus will, for a long time, be on his singles career. But on the doubles court, he’s rolled gold.

The former Australian Open champion also had the distinction of nearly going all the way at the All England Club this year and before he’d even really contemplated what he’d be doing for the Perpetual NSW Open, Polmans was shooting for the stars. He proposed they play together at Sydney Olympic Park, if Hijikata had the time.

Thankfully for him, Hijikata said yes.

And on a court where he is starting to create a collection of feelgood moments, Hijikata was the star turn as he and Polmans snared one of the oldest titles in the sport with a 6-0, 6-4 straight sets demolition of Dane Sweeny and Calum Puttergill at Ken Rosewall Arena on Saturday.

“We spend a lot of the year playing overseas and don’t get to come home that often, so to have a tournament here is really nice,” Hijikata says. “It’s great playing on Ken Rosewall Arena and I’ve got some good memories here, so hopefully we’ll be back in the not so distant future.

“(Polmans) does everything well. He’s so skilful so it kind of makes it easy to pair up with him. If we have to adapt, he’s so adaptable. He serves well and covers the net well. He does a lot of the work and makes me look good sometimes.”

Hijikata has been one of the most popular players on site this week with young children drawn to the story of the kid who grew up in Sydney and became a grand slam winner and Davis Cup player.

And what does his partner think of him?

“I jumped on Rinky’s train today,” Polmans says. “I thought he was on fire today, serving, returning, ripping the ball from the back and it makes it a bit easier for me at the net when he’s firing groundstrokes from the baseline.

“I think it’s a good combination and hopefully we can play some more in the future.”

How much? That’s only a question they’ll be able to answer in the new year as both prepare for the slog ahead in the Australian summer.

Hijikata would have been disappointed not to make the singles final like last year – bowing out in the quarter-finals to James McCabe – and his conqueror couldn’t make the final two either as Japanese giant killer Hayato Matsuoka kept his mesmerising run going.

The Japanese world No.483, who had to win two matches of qualifying just to make the main draw, had already beaten Bernard Tomic, who retired one point into the second set, and 16-year-old Cruz Hewitt earlier in the tournament.

He prevailed over McCabe 7-5, 6-4 to set up a final against No.1 seed James Duckworth, who is yet to drop a service game this week and battled through several short weather delays to beat Jason Kubler 7-5, 6-2.

“It was a little bit tricky today and I had a similar thing (on Friday),” Duckworth said. “There’s not much you can do and you try to stay as focused as possible. I think I did a really good job of staying engaged and staying locked in.

“I thought the level today was quite high. Jason played some great tennis and I had to play some of my best tennis to get through.

“I’ve never seen (Matsuoka) play outside of these two weeks. He qualified and made the semis last week and has qualified and made the final this week. He’s beaten quality opposition in both events so it’s going to be really tough, but I’ll prepare as well as I can and give it my best shot.”