Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Quebec is in his first ATP final of his career. On Saturday, Diallo upset the tournament’s fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo 6-4, 6-2, in the semifinal of the Almaty Open in Kazakhstan. The 23-year-old Canadian will now face Karen Khachanov of Russia in the final.
Diallo had the heavy advantage over Cerundolo when it came to the serve. Diallo had five aces and zero double faults, while Cerundolo had one ace and six double faults.
Diallo also made the most of his opportunities. He broke Cerundolo three times in three break point opportunities. Cerundolo did not break Diallo, but only had one break point opportunity the entire match. Diallo began the week ranked 118th in the world, and moved into the top 100 by reaching the semifinals. Cerundolo entered the Almaty Open ranked number 31.
Khachanov reached the final by beating Aleksander Vukic of Australia 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals. Khachanov is the third seed in Almaty and the 26th ranked player in the world. The 28-year-old Russian made the semifinals of the 2022 United States Open and the 2023 Australian Open.
Once before Khachanov has faced Diallo. That came in the first round of the 2024 National Bank Open in Montreal, as Khachanov won by a score of 6-4, 6-4.
