Canada's Diallo into quarters at Madrid Open with upset win over Dimitrov

National Post

01-05-2025

MADRID — Montreal's Gabriel Diallo advanced to his first Masters-level quarterfinal with a comeback 5-7, 7-6 (7), 6-4 fourth-round win over 15th-seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria on Wednesday.
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Diallo won the second set in a hard-fought tiebreaker to tie the match 1-1, then made a break in the opening game of the third set stand up.
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The 23-year-old Canadian won his first match point after forcing his veteran opponent into an error.
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'Tennis is up and down, so you just try and manage,' Diallo said. 'Luckily today I managed to flip and win the match.'
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Dimitrov used his big serve to his advantage in the hotly contested second set, firing seven aces over his last three service games and another in the tiebreaker.
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But Diallo fought off three match points and won two points on return to go up 8-7 before taking the second set with an ace.
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'I honestly thought I was going home,' Diallo said. 'I thought the margins were so thin.
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'It might be the best serving performance I've ever displayed in my whole life. I was lucky I got the point at 4-6 with (his) loose error, and then I was really confident at 5-6 behind my serve. Then I saved another match point.'
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The pivotal moment of the first set came in Game 11, when Diallo alternated two double-faults with two aces before Dimitrov prevailed to score the only break of the set at a crucial time.
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Both players were strong on serve, with just two breaks in the entire match. Diallo faced just one break point while Dimitrov faced four.
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Dimitrov had 14 total aces to Diallo's eight — an impressive total between the players on the ball-deadening clay surface.
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Diallo will next face 10th seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in Thursday's quarterfinals. Musetti advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 win over sixth seed Alex de Minaur.
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Musetti defeated Diallo in the round of 16 at the Hong Kong Open in January. Diallo won the only other meeting between the players in the qualifying round of the 2023 Davis Cup.
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Diallo's best-ever run at an ATP 1000 tournament has come with a couple of big breaks. He advanced to the main draw as a lucky loser after coming up short in qualifying and avoided a huge hurdle when Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from their second-round match with an injury.
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But he has been full value on the court, beating Belgium's Zizou Bergs, Poland's Kamil Majchrzak, former world No. 8 Cameron Norrie of Britain and now Dimitrov.
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