It’s been quite a week for Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Quebec. The world’s 100th player is in his first-ever ATP tournament semifinal on Saturday when he reached the final four of the Almaty Open in Kazakhstan.
Diallo defeated three opponents this week who were higher than him in the world rankings. He defeated Christopher O’Connell of Australia, the 71st-ranked player in the world, 7-6, 6-2 in the first round on Tuesday and the 93rd-ranked Borna Coric of Croatia 7-6, 6-4 in the second round on Wednesday and the 23rd player in the world and second seed in Almaty, Alejandro Tabilo of Chile, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Diallo had the ace advantage in his first two wins. He had nine aces compared to O’Connell’s two and eight aces compared to Coric’s three. In Diallo’s win over Toronto-born Tabilo, Diallo had zero double faults compared to two for Tabilo. It was also Diallo’s first career win against O’Connell, Coric and Tabilo.
Diallo will next face Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, the fourth seed in Almaty and the 29th player in the world, in the semifinals. This is the fourth time this week that Diallo has faced an opponent for the first time. In the other semifinal, third seed Karen Khachanov of Russia, a 2022 United States Open semifinalist and a 2023 Australian Open semifinalist, will face Aleksander Vukic of Australia.
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