Dallas Tournament | Denis Shapovalov and Gabriel Diallo eliminated in the first round

(Dallas) The two Canadians on the men’s singles draw at the Dallas tennis tournament were eliminated in their first match on Wednesday.

At the end of the evening, the Ontarian Denis Shapovalov, seeded third and 27^e world player, was ruled out following a 6-7 (1), 4-6 straight-set loss to China’s Wu Yibing, 97^e in the world, in a second-round duel.

Shapovalov had a rocky night on serve with eight aces but as many double faults. He won 71% of the points after placing his first ball in play, but only 44% of the points when he had to use his second serve.

Shapovalov also gave his rival six break chances, and the latter converted three.

The Ontarian got off to a bad start, losing the first three games, including the second, on his serve. He recovered this break in the fifth game, but in the tiebreaker, he suffered three mini-breaks.

Shapovalov then lost his serve in the very first game of the second set, but again he recovered that break in the fourth game. Three games later, the Chinese scored another break and this time he got it. consolidated until the end of the duel.

Earlier in the day, Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo lost in three sets 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5) to Emilio Gomez of Ecuador in a first-round match .

Diallo, a 2.01m giant aged just 21, lost despite collecting 18 aces against only two double faults. He also hit 76% of his first serve points and won 74% of the points after lodging his first serve.

Admitted to the main draw as a lucky loser, Diallo, ranked 211^e in the world, faced only three break points, but Gomez converted two.

Gomez’s first break came in the fifth game of the opening set and the Ecuadorian was able to protect him to win the first set.

Gomez had his second break in the third game of the second set, which allowed him to take a 2-1 lead. Diallo scored his only break in the duel in the 10^e game, to bring the score to 5-5.

During the tiebreaker of the second set, Diallo needed only one mini-break, during the second point, to force the holding of a decisive set.

During this third set, Diallo and Gomez jealously protected their service, without conceding the slightest chance of breakage.

During the decisive tiebreaker, Diallo scored a mini-break from the first point but Gomez gave him the change of his coin from the next point. Gomez added a second mini-break to take a 6-4 lead en route to victory.

In another match, American Frances Tiafoe outscored her compatriot Mackenzie McDonald 6-1, 6-3 in 58 minutes. In the quarter-finals, he will face another American, JJ Wolf, who defeated Radu Albot 6-3, 7-6 (5).

Germans Daniel Altmaier and Oscar Otte also advanced to the next round with wins over Americans Zachary Svajda and Christopher Eubanks, respectively.