Gabriel Diallo from Montreal, Quebec is in his first ATP final of his career. On Saturday, Diallo beat fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Almaty Open in Kazakhstan. The 23-year-old Canadian will now face Karen Khachanov from Russia in the final.
Diallo had a clear advantage over Cerundolo when it came to serving. Diallo had five aces and zero double faults, while Cerundolo had one ace and six double faults.
Diallo also took advantage of his chances. He broke Cerundolo three times on three break point opportunities. Cerundolo couldn’t break Diallo but only had one chance to break in the entire game. Diallo started the week at number 118 in the world rankings and moved into the top 100 by reaching the semi-finals. Cerundolo entered the Almaty Open as number 31.
Khachanov reached the final by defeating Aleksander Vukic of Australia 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals. Khachanov is the third seeded player in Almaty and the 26th player in the world. The 28-year-old Russian reached the semifinals of the 2022 United States Open and the 2023 Australian Open.
Khachanov has met Diallo before. This happened in the first round of the 2024 National Bank Open in Montreal, when Khachanov won 6-4, 6-4.
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