Gabriel Diallo is into the semifinals of an ATP main tour event for the first time in his career after an upset win over Alejandro Tabillo on Friday at the Almaty Open in Kazakhstan. The 23-year-old Canadian rallied from a set down to defeat the No. 2 seed in three sets.
Straight-set wins over Christopher O’Connell and Borna Coric had sent Diallo into his first quarter-final on the ATP Tour. He had a far tougher test in the last eight of the 250 event against the Canadian-born Tabillo but the Montrealer buckled down after losing the opening set, not dropping serve in the last two as he reached the final four with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.
With the exception of the one break he allowed in the opener, Diallo was rock-solid on serve in the upset win, winning at least 70 per cent of points on both his first and second serves. He saved three of four break points he faced while converting two of his six opportunities.
Both men largely cruised on serve in the opening set. Through the first five games, the returner only managed to win two points.
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Diallo actually started stronger with consecutive holds to love before finding himself under pressure out of nowhere at 3-2. Some errors at the net by the Canadian gave Tabillo the first and what proved to be only break point of the first set, where the Chilean coaxed a backhand error out of Diallo to seize the initiative.
Despite pushing the second seed to deuce in the following game, Diallo never had a chance to break back in the opening set.
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In the second, the Canadian started to raise the stakes on return. He had his first look at a break in the fourth game with a 15-40 advantage but Tabillo whipped out a couple of brilliant forehands to erase the threat. The next time the Chilean stepped up to the line, however, Diallo again got a look at a double break point and this time he got a gift from the second seed who double-faulted to drop serve for the first time.
Consolidating proved tricky for the Canadian, who had to dig out of a 15-40 hole of his own to move ahead 5-2. Serving out the set was far more routine as Diallo held to love to send the match to a decider.
After saving a break point in his first service game of the third set, drawing an error at the end of a titanic rally, Diallo struck in the following game, firing a deep backhand that was too much for Tabillo to handle to break for a 2-1 lead.
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That lone break proved to be enough for Diallo as he locked in on his own serve. He trailed 15-30 twice in his last four service games but never gave Tabillo a look at a break back point once he had the lead in the decider. The Montrealer finished off the victory with three straight unreturned serves, including an ace on match point.
Diallo will look to extend his career-best run at an ATP event when he meets No. 4 seed Francisco Cerundolo in the semifinals on Saturday.