It has been quite the week for Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Quebec. The 100th ranked player in the world is in his very first ATP tournament semifinal on Saturday as he reached the final four of the Almaty Open in Kazakhstan.
Diallo beat three opponents this week who were higher than he is in the world rankings. He beat Christopher O’Connell of Australia, the 71st ranked player in the world, 7-6, 6-2, in the first round on Tuesday, the 93rd ranked Borna Coric of Croatia 7-6, 6-4, in the second round on Wednesday, and the 23rd ranked player in the world, and second seed in Almaty, Alejandro Tabilo of Chile, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Diallo had the ace advantage in his first two wins. He had nine aces compared to two for O’Connell, and eight aces compared to three for Coric. In Diallo’s win over the Toronto-born Tabilo, Diallo had zero double faults compared to two for Tabilo. It was also Diallo’s first career win over O’Connell, Coric, and Tabilo.
Diallo will next meet Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, the fourth seed in Almaty, and 29th ranked player in the world, in the semifinals. This will be the fourth time this week Diallo is facing an opponent for the first time. The other semifinal has the third seed Karen Khachanov of Russia, the 2022 United States Open semifinalist, and 2023 Australian Open semifinalist, against Aleksander Vukic of Australia.