Diallo’s resilient win gives Canadian fans something to cheer about at NBO

Open this photo in gallery: Gabriel Diallo returns a shot to Matteo Gigante during the National Bank Open at Sobeys Stadium on Wednesday in Toronto.Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

During the last two summers, Gabriel Diallo needed a wild card to get into the National Bank Open. This year, the 23-year-old not only got in with his own ranking, but he’s seeded, and arguably Canada’s most fascinating player at Toronto’s ATP Masters 1000 tournament.

On Wednesday, the 6-foot-8 hard-serving Montrealer advanced to the third round of the tournament by beating Italian wild card Matteo Gigante, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in a match that showed his ability to bounce back.

It’s the latest in an impressive season for 23-year-old Diallo. He has climbed some 50 spots in the ATP rankings and collected his first title, the grass-court ATP 250 Libema Open in the Netherlands. Diallo is now a career-best World No. 36 and seeded No. 27 at the NB Open.

He earns a third-round matchup with the winner of Wednesday’s late match between Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena and U.S. World No. 4 Taylor Fritz – the tournament’s No. 2 seed. Fritz and Diallo recently met at Wimbledon, with the American winning their thrilling five-setter. It showed he belongs on big stages.

“Two years ago, if you would have told me that I’ve come back [in Toronto] as a seeded player, I probably wouldn’t have believed you,” said Diallo. “Very happy with the way I competed today. It felt a little bit different than two years ago, like you have a little bit more to lose. But I got great support from the crowd and happy that I got it done in two sets.”

Denis Shapovalov comes up short on home court at NBO

Diallo grew up the only child of two newcomers to Canada. His mother Iryna is Ukrainian and was a national team handball player. She met his Guineau-born father Moubassirou when he was on an educational exchange in the former Soviet Union. They both studied engineering. The couple came to Canada in the early 90s, and their son was born in Montreal in 2001.

He speaks English, French and Russian and is also learning Spanish. His girlfriend is from Spain – Fiona Arrese, a fellow player he met on the tennis team while playing at The University of Kentucky. She helped him with that bold hairstyle he’s sporting. They dyed his dark hair platinum just before he won his first ATP title. It’s been a lucky look, he figures.

His recent roll actually got going in 2024, including a run to the third round at the U.S. Open after coming through qualifying, making the finals of the ATP 250 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and breaking into the top 100.

There were earlier signs though. Like at the 2023 NB Open in Toronto, when Diallo was ranked No. 141 and playing on grandstand court, notching his first ATP win over then World No. 21 Daniel Evans.

Open this photo in gallery: Diallo ran into trouble against Gigante in the second set of their match on Wednesday, but the Montrealer fought his way back into it to close him out in straight sets, punching his ticket to the third round of play.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

He’s in a very different spot this week in Toronto. He broke Gigante, the World No. 125, at the first opportunity, on the fast, lively court in hot sun. He swiftly won the first set 6-3, even after rain clouds passed over Sobey’s stadium and briefly suspended the match.

The second set was different. Gigante broke Diallo first and took a 5-2 lead in the set. The Montrealer clawed his way back, breaking the Italian and then leaning into his big serve to pull even. It went to a tiebreak, and Gigante jumped out to a 4-2 lead, before Diallo rallied back again, stealing the set and the match.

He relishes another chance to play before a big crowd in Canada.

“From a Canadian’s perspective, we don’t have a lot of opportunities to play at home,” he said. “So you kind of want to use that opportunity as much as you can and perform, but you have to make sure also you don’t step into the other extreme, which is putting too much pressure and expectation on yourself. So it’s about this fine balance.”

Two other Canadian men bowed out in singles action on Wednesday. Felix Auger-Aliassime lost 6-4, 6-4 to Fábián Marozsán of Hungary, while Alexis Galarneau fell to Italy’s Flavio Cobolli, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

Click here to read article