Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo was knocked out of the Almaty Open tennis tournament after a hard-fought match against Australian qualifier James Duckworth. Diallo lost 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 6-4 in the second round in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Despite Diallo’s impressive 22 aces, Duckworth managed to secure the victory without facing any break points during the match that lasted over two and a half hours.
Diallo showcased strong performance with an 82% first-serve accuracy and winning 74% of his first service points. However, he faced eight break points, managing to save seven of them. Duckworth capitalized on a crucial break to take a 4-3 lead in the third set. Duckworth’s next challenge will be against third seed Flavio Cobolli from Italy in the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 event. This encounter marks the first ATP main-draw meeting between the two players.
Previously, Diallo had defeated Duckworth during the qualifying rounds at the 2022 National Bank Open in Montreal. Despite being ranked 35th in the world, Diallo’s season record dropped to 28-22 following this loss. In another event on the same day, third seed Denis Shapovalov from Richmond Hill, Ont., competed against Leo Borg, the son of tennis legend Bjorn Borg, in the second round of the ATP 250 Stockholm Open.
Looking ahead, fourth seed Leylah Fernandez from Laval, Que., is set to face Hungary’s Dalma Galfi in the second round of the Japan Women’s Open in Osaka on Thursday (Wednesday night ET).