US Open | Gabriel Diallo loses in four sets to Tommy Paul

(New York) Montrealer Gabriel Diallo’s great adventure at the US Open tennis tournament came to an end early Saturday evening, when American Tommy Paul defeated him in four sets of 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (3) in a third-round duel that lasted nearly 3 hours and 30 minutes.

After a significant dip in the second and third sets, Diallo recovered in the fourth set, in which he held leads of 3-0 and 4-2.

But Paul didn’t lose his cool. He gradually caught up with his 22-year-old opponent, forcing a second tiebreaker in the match.

Unlike what he had shown in the first break, Paul was incisive. He scored five points in a row that allowed him to build a 6-1 lead. Diallo saved the first two match points, but not the third.

Paul took advantage of a volley that was a little too high and too long from Diallo to place a forehand in parallel which gave no chance to the six-foot-eight giant.

“I feel like I returned his serves well, but he was very combative on mine. It was a roller coaster ride in the first set and the fourth set as well. I’m happy to get through it,” Paul said on court after his win.

Facing the 14^e The tournament’s top seed, Diallo was hoping to secure a sixth consecutive victory since arriving at Flushing Meadows, including the three he won during qualifying.

Once in the main draw, he defeated the Spaniard Jaume Munar, 84^e in the world, in four rounds then the Frenchman Arthur Fils (24^e), also in four rounds.

At various points during the match on Saturday, he gave Paul a hard time, in part thanks to his serve which allowed him to register 12 aces compared to six double faults.

But his serve also put him in difficult positions several times, to the point where he faced 20 break points, nine of which he failed to clear. Above all, he committed 77 unforced errors compared to only 32 winners.

A win against a player as seasoned as Paul would have secured him a date on Monday against world number one Jannik Sinner.

The fact remains that Diallo, who was the last Canadian in the singles, should end up at 103^e rank at the next publication of the ATP ranking, he who was 143^e when the tournament started.

This will be his best ranking in his career.

Diallo on the defensive

Except for the opening game of the match, Diallo found himself in a precarious position on his serve throughout the first set. He had to save two break points in the third game, and three more in the fifth to stay level with the American.

Paul finally broke through the young Montrealer’s wall with breaks in the seventh, ninth and 11th^e games. The problem was that Diallo reacted each time by taking his serve away immediately afterwards, thus forcing a tiebreaker.

The two players continued their roller coaster ride in the deciding game of the set. They traded four mini-breaks over the first eight points and Paul took a 5-4 lead with another mini-break, holding the ball for two serves.

Paul lost both of them, the first on a smash from Diallo and the second on a forehand error. Diallo ended this first set with a service winner.

The second set was nothing like the first. Paul won the first three games, including the second on Diallo’s serve with a forehand winner, and needed just 34 minutes to tie the match when Diallo sent a backhand into the net.

The start of the third set was even worse for Diallo who found himself down 0-4 after barely 20 minutes of action.

The Montrealer stopped the bleeding by winning the fifth game on his serve before losing the next two, the last on his serve on a forehand error.

After a 75-minute marathon in the first round, the next two lasted a combined 68 minutes.

Dabrowski and Routliffe win

Earlier in the day, Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand partner Erin Routliffe reached the round of 16 in the women’s doubles with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over the duo of American Catherine Harrison and Polish Alicja Rosolska.

Competition favourites Dabrowski and Routliffe needed just under 90 minutes to beat their rivals.

In the first set, Dabrowski and Routliffe were broken in the third and ninth games, but on each occasion Harrison and Rosolska immediately brought the set back to even serve.

Dabrowski and Routliffe, however, scored another break in the 11th.^e game, without conceding a single point. They followed up with another perfect game to close out the first set.

In the second set, Dabrowski and Routliffe took a comfortable 5-2 lead thanks to breaks in the third and seventh games. They recovered one of those breaks in the eighth game, but held on until the end.

In the next round, Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the tandem of Romanian Jaqueline Cristian and Italian Angelica Moratelli.