Gabriel Diallo’s smile was telling Thursday evening in New York. The 22-year-old Canadian qualifier’s happiness showed after he upset 24th seed Arthur Fils 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4 to reach the third round of the US Open. The 6'8" Diallo began the week without a major main draw win to his name. Now he owns two.
“Obviously super happy, especially the way that I’ve been playing throughout the summer,” Diallo said. “I’ve been able to put up some good matches and continuously bring a very good level and giving myself some chances to win. Now it’s time to recover, try to analyse the match and get ready for Saturday.”
The former University of Kentucky standout explained that a big moment for him came in July at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Chicago, where he lifted the trophy. Diallo did not lose a set all week en route to his third Challenger trophy.
“Especially the way I won it. I didn’t get broken the whole week,” Diallo said. “I faced only maybe five break points throughout the whole tournament and it wasn’t like I was banging 25 aces a match. I was playing really well behind my serve, so I think that gave me the confidence to know that even if I’m not serving great, I can still get myself some good chances to win.”
After that, the Canadian reached another Challenger semi-final in Cary and advanced through qualifying at Flushing Meadows to earn a place in his second major main draw.
“In the second round of qualies I was down 6-3, 5-3. I saved two match points, so I just remind myself that everything is a bonus from now, because just a week ago I was contemplating going home,” Diallo said. “Obviously there are a lot of nerves, but you try to focus on the tactics, what you can control, where you want to hit the ball, what you want to do to win the point.”
Now the Canadian is a win against 14th seed Tommy Paul from reaching the second week at a Grand Slam tournament.
A rising star whose father is from Guinea and mother is from Ukraine is shining on the world’s stage.
“My dad comes from a very small village, you can’t even see it on the map, actually,” Diallo said. “Me and him tried to go on a map and see it, and it doesn’t appear on the map. I’m not even kidding.”
Diallo is up to No. 103 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, so it is certainly on the map now.
There was also a blockbuster clash of Canadians in the doubles on Thursday in New York, with Gabriela Dabrowski beating Leylah Annie Fernandez in the first round.
Already the last Canadian standing in singles, Diallo brought the intensity to his second-round clash, going blow-for-blow with his powerful French opponent and generally getting the better of the hard-hitting exchanges. In the end he was able to pick up his fifth win at the 2024 US Open 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4.
The serve was critical for the Canadian as he fired a dozen aces, won 77 per cent of his first serve points and 58 per cent of his seconds, while limiting his opponent to just three break point chances in the match. Diallo converted five of his 10 break points on the Fils serve.
Diallo gave his opponent nothing to work with in the opening set. The Canadian was crisp on serve, never trailing in his six service games. He started applying pressure on return early, pushing Fils to deuce in two of the Frenchman’s first three service games. The first true opening for Diallo came in the eighth game when Fils shanked a forehand to go down 30-40, but the 24th seed was able to hit his way out of the jam.
Serving to stay in the set at 5-6, a fortunate net cord awkwardly kicked over Fils at the net and the Frenchman struggled to recover. He fired the ball into the net on the next two points to give Diallo a triple set point and did it again on the second to surrender the opening set.
For most of the second set, Diallo found himself playing catch-up. He finally started showing some vulnerability on serve and a double fault at 1-1 put himself down break point for the first time in the match, which his opponent converted to take the lead.
However, Fils struggled to hang on to leads. Twice in the second set he broke Diallo only to be broken back immediately as a part of a run of four straight breaks from 1-1 to 3-3. In the tiebreak, he also twice led by a minibreak only for the Canadian to reel him back in.
One point completely put the wind to the Frenchman’s back in the breaker. At 3-3, he misjudged a lob from Diallo and pulled out a brilliant tweener to stay alive in the point, which he went on to win with a passing shot winner. Fils did not drop another point in the tiebreak to even the match.
Fils initially seemed to carry the momentum into the third set as he won the first six points to go up 1-0 and love-30 on the Diallo serve, but the Canadian was able to wrestle it back, holding that game to slow the Frenchman down.
As the set went along, the Canadian upped his intensity and his big hitting paid off. At 3-3, he had two nearly identical looks at break points with Fils sending a passing shot to his backhand. The first time, Diallo dumped it into the net but on the second he made no mistake, ripping a brilliant passing shot down the line to seize the initiative.
Diallo found himself down 30-40 as he attempted to consolidate the break but once again his boldness paid off. Down break point, he fired a 130 MPH ace out wide to get back to deuce and followed it up with a big forehand and then another ace to go up 5-3. When it came time to serve out the set, he held to love, finishing with an ace.
After weathering an early storm in the fourth set, including a 10-minute hold in the fourth game, Diallo made his move again in the seventh game. The Canadian ripped a forehand winner up the line to take a 15-40 lead and Fils sent a backhand long on the second break point to give Diallo the edge.
That was all he needed as the Canadian held his final two service games, closing out the win with another hold to love.
In order to reach his first round of sixteen at a major and set a potential clash with world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, Diallo will have to overcome No. 14 seed Tommy Paul in the third round.
Two days after earning the first main draw win of his career at a Grand Slam, Gabriel Diallo continued his magical run in New York, defeating [24] Arthur Fils in the second round of the US Open, 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4.
A qualifier into the main draw, Diallo has now won five straight matches on the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Following his career-defining victory, the Canadian will now face [14] Tommy Paul of the USA.
Ranked No. 143 by the ATP, Diallo was able to claim the fourth top 30 win of his career with his second-round victory of the Frenchman Fils. The former Wildcat was dominant on serve once more, hitting 12 aces, winning 77% of first serve points, and limiting Fils to only three breakpoint opportunities. Conversely, the Canadian was able to break his opponent five times and at least once in all four sets. Additionally, Diallo hit 44 winners on the day, bringing his main draw total to 108 across just two matches.
This is the first time in Diallo's career that he has won back-to-back main draw matches at the Tour level. However, the Montreal native has had success for Team Canada, holding four career wins in Davis Cup action, including a win over No. 18 Lorenzo Musetii at the 2023 Davis Cup Finals Group Stage, the highest ranked win of his career. Diallo is also a Davis Cup champion, winning "The World Cup of Tennis" with Team Canada in 2022.
Diallo earned his first career main draw win at a Major on Tuesday, defeating Spain's Jaume Munar in four sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
The only Canadian left standing in either singles draw, Diallo nearly missed the main draw, having to fight off two match points in the second round of qualifying to stay alive in the tournament. After a come-from-behind three set win against Sho Shimabukuro of Japan in the opening round, Diallo fell behind a set and a break to Titouan Drogeut of France. Down 15-40, 3-5 in the second set, Diallo survived and rattled off four straight games to win the second set, eventually winning the match to advance to the final round of qualifying. In the third round, Diallo defeated another Frenchman, Valentin Royer, in straight sets to make the tournament's main draw.
In his only prior main draw appearance at a major, Diallo took former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori to five sets, but ultimately fell short of his maiden main draw win at a Grand Slam. After dropping two close sets, Diallo flipped the script in sets three and four, but fell short in the decider, falling 5-7, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-1, 5-7.
During his time in Lexington, Diallo was ranked as high as fourth in the ITA singles rankings, in addition to earning three All-American honors (2021 Singles, 2022 Singles and Doubles) and two All-SEC recognitions (2021 and 2022). He was a key member of Kentucky's 2022 team that finished as runners-up in both the NCAA and SEC tournaments. His biggest moment as a Wildcat came in the national quarterfinals against No. 1 seeded TCU, as he delivered the clinching point in come-from-behind fashion.
Diallo's third-round contest against Paul will take place on Saturday, August 31, with time and court designations to be determined. Coverage will take place on the ESPN family of networks.
