For the first time in his tennis career, Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Quebec is in the fourth round of a Masters 1000 series event. On Tuesday, Diallo defeated 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
This was the second straight match in Madrid, where Diallo was the higher ranked player. In the second round, Diallo defeated Kamil Majchrzak of Poland, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. Diallo is 78th in the world, Majchrzak is 90th in the world, and Norrie is 91st in the world.
Diallo is one of two Canadians in Madrid to beat an opponent who has had grand slam success. In the second round on Saturday, Denis Shapovalov of Toronto, Ontario, beat Kei Nishikori of Japan, 6-1, 6-4. Nishikori reached the final of the 2014 United States Open.
In his last two matches, Diallo was the better server. Against Majchrzak, Diallo had 10 aces, compared to seven for his Polish opponent. Then on Tuesday, Diallo had eight aces and one double fault, while Norrie had four aces and eight double faults.
Next up for Diallo in the fourth round is the 15th seed, Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria. This is their first meeting head to head. Dimitrov has reached three grand slam semifinals–the 2014 Wimbledon, the 2017 Australian Open, and the 2019 United States Open.
