Canada's Diallo advances at NBO Toronto, Galarneau falls in three sets

Hamilton Spectator

3 days ago

TORONTO - Canada's Gabriel Diallo advanced to the third round of the National Bank Open on Wednesday with a 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over Italy's Matteo Gigante.
The No. 27 seed from Montreal needed one hour 46 minutes to complete the rain-interrupted victory on Centre Court at Sobeys Stadium.
Diallo saved two set points at 2-5 before breaking back and eventually forcing a tiebreaker. Gigante took a 5-3 lead but dropped the last four points, including a double-fault on match ball.
'Tennis is sometimes pretty crazy with the momentum switches that you see throughout a match,' Diallo said.
The six-foot-eight right-hander said he felt a little flat in the middle of the second set before turning things around. He got a spark by thinking about the approach he used in his college days at the University of Kentucky.
'Energy, intensity, things that you can control,' he said. 'And slowly my game came back.'
Diallo won his first ATP Tour title last month at a 250-level stop in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.
He followed that up with a strong appearance at Wimbledon, pushing fourth-ranked Taylor Fritz to a fifth set in a second-round loss. Fritz could be his next opponent here if the American can get by Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena in the late match Wednesday night.
Canadian wild-card entry Alexis Galarneau was eliminated after dropping a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 decision to 13th-seeded Flavio Cobolli of Italy.
He earned his first main draw victory on the top tour with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 win over Arthur Rinderknech of France in the first round.
'I'm really proud (of) that,' said Galarneau, who's ranked 193rd in the world. 'Also proud of the fight that I put up today. I thought I played pretty well, and a lot of positives that I can take away from this week.'
The afternoon session was delayed for about half an hour due to showers in the northwest Toronto area.
In other second-round matches, fourth-seeded American Ben Shelton beat French qualifier Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 6-3 and sixth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev defeated Hugo Gaston of France 6-2, 6-3.
Italy's Lorenzo Sonego, the No. 28 seed, topped China's Yunchaokete Bu 6-1, 6-4 and Australia's Aleksandar Vukic upset 31st-seeded Cameron Norrie of Britain 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3.
Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime, the 21st seed and only other Canadian left in the singles draw, was scheduled to face Hungary's Fabian Marozsan in the evening.
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., who dropped his opener to American Learner Tien on Tuesday, withdrew from the doubles competition Wednesday due to a left knee injury.
He was scheduled to team with Auger-Aliassime for a match Thursday against the American duo of Robert Galloway and Brandon Nakashima.
A replacement pairing will be named a few hours before the match, organizers said.
The Masters 1000 competition continues through Aug. 7.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2025.