Gabriel Diallo won’t soon forget this week’s Almaty Open and it’s not only because of what the Canadian has done on court.
Yes, Diallo reached a maiden ATP Tour quarter-final and now semi-final to move closer to the sought after Top 100 in the PIF ATP Rankings benchmark. But the newly turned 23-year-old also got to meet an older family member on his mom’s side for the first time.
“Here I met my cousin that I never met in my life before,” he said. “My cousin lives here in Almaty and has been coming to my matches, so it’s pretty special. And I think it’s something that helped me throughout the week.”
Diallo even intends to do some sightseeing with his cousin after his last match.
That could still be a couple of days away, since the 6-foot-8 big server beat Alejandro Tabilo 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 amid Almaty’s high altitude on Friday to land in the last four.
A hip injury affected the Montrealer earlier in the year to halt the momentum garnered from the end of 2023.
But the former University of Kentucky standout said that winning the Chicago Challenger in late July without dropping a set proved pivotal in his upturn. In all matches since that Challenger began, Diallo sports a 27-7 record.
Having been as high as No. 103 in the rankings in September after a third round showing as a qualifier at the US Open, Diallo’s live ranking eclipsed the Top 100 immediately following victory against the Canadian-born Tabilo.
“Would be nice to keep going, keep climbing the rankings but we keep a big focus on the process for sure,” said Diallo.
It was a measured reply from the well-spoken Diallo yet he admits that he does spend his share of time glancing at the rankings.
“I do, especially after last week. I had to defend points and I managed to defend a big chunk,” said Diallo, who won the Bratislava Challenger 12 months ago. “So I knew I was getting there. Before starting in Almaty I was 118, now I’m just inside (the Top 100) but there are guys behind me that are hungry, playing just as well, that are trying to make a move as well. So I got to keep focusing and doing my part.”
In his still young ATP main-draw career, Diallo achieved another personal best Friday by tallying 70 per cent of his second-serve points against the second seed.
“It’s good for sure because you don’t want to be one dimensional to the point that if you don’t make your first serve, you know you are in big trouble,” he said.
He is the type of player that likes to celebrate career milestones without going overboard when his tournament wraps up. That might mean eating a little cake, having one beer, a glass of wine or when he is at home, enjoying poutine.
What he has accomplished in Almaty no doubt merits a treat, even if Diallo loses Saturday versus fourth-seed Francisco Cerundolo. The tournament hotel might be the starting point.
“The view is insane from the hotel,” said Diallo. “We got the mountains.”
Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo, ranked 31st in the ATP rankings, exited the ATP 250 tournament in Almaty, Kazakhstan, after losing in the semifinals. The Buenos Aires native was defeated in two sets (6/4 and 6/2) by Canadian Gabriel Diallo (118), who had already dispatched another South American earlier in the week: Alejandro Tabilo.
With this performance, the Canadian secures a place in the Top 100 starting next week.
The 23-year-old from Montreal forced a decisive third set against 24th-ranked Karen Khachanov of Russia before dropping a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 decision on Sunday.
Gabriel Diallo is starting to come into his own on the ATP Tour.
The former NCAA standout has been progressing since turning pro last year but took a giant leap forward last week with his best result yet on the main tour, which has launched him into the Top 100 in the rankings.
Here’s what you need to know.
The last 14 months or so have seen steady progress for 23-year-old Gabriel Diallo and he hit yet another milestone last week, reaching his first-career final on the ATP Tour at the Almaty Open.
Coming into the 250 event, Diallo had never won more than two matches in the main draw of a tour-level event and had never even reached a quarter-final. He got to the final eight by defeating former Masters 1000 winner Borna Coric in straight sets. He then reached his first semifinal with a comeback win over second seed Alejandro Tabillo before punching his ticket to his first final with a straight-set win over fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo.
In the final, he gave world No. 26 Karen Khachanov all he could handle but utimately came up just short, falling in three sets.
As a result of his career-best run on tour to date, Diallo now finds himself inside the Top 100 on the ATP Tour rankings for the first time, jumping up to a new career-high of No. 87 in the world. He also passes Denis Shapovalov to become the Canadian No. 2.
Diallo sits only behind Félix Auger-Aliassime among the Canadians on the ATP Tour. The Canadian No. 1 reached the quarter-finals at the ATP 250 event in Antwerp, which he won in 2022, last week, falling in a third-set tiebreak to Roberto Bautista Agut.
Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe reached the semifinals of the WTA 250 event in Osaka, Japan last week but withdrew prior to the match.
The pressure is on Félix Auger-Aliassime this week in Basel, where he is the two-time defending champion. A strong result in Switzerland is critical for the Canadian’s ranking as the 500 points he has to defend represent almost 25 per cent of his total ranking points.
In order to avoid a massive hit to his ranking, and to become just the second player along with Roger Federer to win three straight titles in Basel, he may have to go through one of his fellow Canadians as he and Denis Shapovalov are on a quarter-final collision course.
First, Auger-Aliassime will have to defeat Sebastian Baez in the first round followed by either James Duckworth or Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. For his part, Shapovalov needs to beat Juncheng Shang in his opener and then take out either No. 2 seed Casper Ruud or Robert Bautista Agut, who beat Auger-Aliassime last week in Antwerp.
If either Canadian gets through to the semis, they are projected to face No. 4 seed Holger Rune. Andrey Rublev is the top seed and a potential finals opponent. Stefanos Tsitsipas is also in the top half of the draw.
Back in Asia, the Canadians got off to a strong start on Monday at the WTA 500 event in Tokyo, with both Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Annie Fernandez winning their first-round matches.
For Andreescu, her straight-set win over Mei Yamaguchi was her first match win since the first round of the Olympics in July, snapping a five-match losing streak. She will have her hands full in the second round with second seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Fernandez had to battle a little harder in her opener, dropping the opening set but taking the second and racing ahead 5-2 in the third when her opponent, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, retired. The Canadian No. 1 will play Varvara Gracheva in the second round with top seed Qinwen Zheng potentially looming in the quarter-finals.
Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe are the top seeds in the doubles.
Another week of professional tennis in Alberta and more great results for the host nation. This time it was further south in Calgary where Rebecca Marino won the singles title and Kayla Cross was crowned champion in the doubles.
The final national championships of 2024 took place last week in Bedford, NS, with Thomas Venos, Mitch McIntyre, and Frédérique Bérubé-Perron each picking up a pair of trophies at the Birmingham National Wheelchair Tennis Championships.
Abroad, Dasha Plekhanova came close to winning her first professional singles title, reaching the final at the W15 event in Huamantla, Mexico. She lost in the final to Malaika Rapolu of the United States in two tight sets.
Domestic ITF action continues this week. The ITF Tour moves east for a W75 event in Saguenay, QC. Nine Canadians received direct entry to the singles draw with two more still alive in qualifying.
Marino and Billie Jean King Cup teammate Marina Stakusic are both competing at a WTA 125 event in Tampico, Mexico this week.
You can follow the Canadians in action every week here.
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