Photo : Pascal Ratthe
Gabriel Diallo salvaged what was otherwise a tough day for the Canadian men at the US Open.
The Canadian achieved a career milestone at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday, defeating Spain’s Jaume Munar 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to record his first ever Grand Slam main draw victory.
The big-serving native of Montreal imposed his powerful brand of tennis, firing 20 aces and hitting 64 winners in the 3 hour, 23 minute win.
Diallo, who reached the main draw after recording three wins in qualifying, quickly unleashed his aggressive game style against his experienced Spanish opponent.
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The competitors began on quite even terms in the opening set, briefly exchanging breaks of serve. The Montreal native soon applied pressure in the latter stages, converting a second break point chance at 4-all to grab a decisive lead, before closing out the opening set on serve 6-4 in 51 minutes.
The 27-year-old Spaniard made his response in the second, using his counterpunching skills to great effect. In the sixth game of the set, Munar notched a pivotal break and held for a commanding 5-2 lead. He’d close out the set on serve to level the match at one set all.
The momentum turned back to the Canadian in the third set. A double fault gifted a key break to the Montrealer early, as Diallo forged ahead 4-1.
After failing to convert three set points at 2-5 on Munar’s serve, the Canadian held to win the third 6-3.
The Canadian continued his charge of strong tennis in the fourth set, applying relentless pressure to break Munar’s serve twice for a 3-0 lead. The Spaniard would recover one of those breaks of serve, but Diallo stayed ahead on the scoreboard.
At 5-4, Munar mounted one final stand, breaking the 22-year-old’s serve to level at 5-all. However, Diallo would not be denied. He responded by converting on a fifth break point chance in the 11th game of the set. He’d close out the match by firing one of his 20 aces on the day.
With the victory, Diallo earns his first career main draw win at a Grand Slam.
He’ll face 24th seeded Arthur Fils of France in the second round on Thursday.
Auger-Aliassime falls to Mensik
Auger-Aliassime was unable to find the good form he displayed at the Olympics and in Cincinnati over the summer, falling to up-and-coming Czech teenager Jakub Mensik in the first round on Tuesday.
Despite showing tenacity while trailing, Shapovalov found himself having to battle back constantly against Botic van de Zandschulp and never managed to pull ahead of the Dutchman.
Auger-Aliassime was up first and despite a quick start, the Canadian struggled to find consistency, throwing in far too many errors and was broken at the end of every set in a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 loss. He is now on a three-match losing streak at the US Open, having not gotten past the second round ever since reaching the 2021 semifinals.
36 unforced errors and 10 double faults were Auger-Aliassime’s undoing in New York. Mensik also gave him little to work with, committing just 15 unforced errors of his own while striking 25 winners. The Czech lost just five points on his first serve and faced only two break points while having 16 chances on his opponent’s serve.
After a quick start for the Canadian, breaking in the opening game with a forehand winner, things went downhill quickly. Auger-Aliassime double-faulted to go down 15-40 in his first service game and then shanked a forehand on the second break point to immediately put the set back on serve.
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Errors were a problem early on and a missed forehand at 1-2 gave Mensik two more break points. The Czech fired a forehand winner to take the lead. The closest Auger-Aliassime came to getting back into the set was a love-30 look at 2-4, but he proceeded to lose the next seven straight points to allow Mensik to hold and then get triple set point on the Canadian’s serve.
Even though Auger-Aliassime saved the first three set points with big serves, back-to-back forehand misses handed his teenage opponent the opening set.
All through the second, the Canadian was under pressure. The only time he did not face break points was in his opening service game. While he managed to survive through most of the set, primarily due to some clutch serving, he cracked as he served to stay in it at 4-5, firing a forehand into the net on the sixth break point of the set.
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The struggles carried over into the third, where in his opening service game Auger-Aliassime double-faulted to go down break point and struck a forehand into the net to fall behind immediately.
While the Canadian cleaned up his game a bit in the third, it was too little, too late. He had one chance to reclaim the break in the seventh game but missed a forehand. That was the last gasp for Auger-Aliassime, as he was broken serving to stay in the match in the very next game.
All five Canadians are scheduled to play their first-round singles matches on Tuesday. Auger-Aliassime will now shift his focus to the Davis Cup, where he is expected to lead Team Canada in the group stage next month in Manchester.
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Shapovalov Can’t Claw Back Botic
Denis Shapovalov put up a fight in his opening clash against Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands but was playing from behind from the start. He never led after surrendering an early break and was eliminated 6-4, 7-5, 6-4
Like his countryman, errors were Shapovalov’s undoing as he had 51 unforced errors in the two-hour, 20-minute match, more than double his 21 winners. He also had 11 double faults and was broken four times on 10 break points.
Early errors caused Shapovalov trouble near the start of the match. In his second service game, he missed a routine midcourt forehand to set up a break point but responded with a better forehand to survive.
The next time he stepped up to the line, more errors gave the Dutchman a double break point opening and van de Zandschulp made the Canadian pay, ripping a backhand passing shot up the line to take a 3-2 lead. That was the only break he needed as the Dutchman never faced a break point in the opening set.
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Mistakes continued to be a problem early in the second set as Shapovalov double-faulted to again drop serve in the third game. This time, though, his opponent returned the favour with a sloppy game of his own to put the set back on serve.
Shapovalov had a chance to take the break lead when he led 15-40 at 3-2 but van de Zandschulp blasted his way out of the jam to keep the set even.
The serve collapsed on the Canadian at the worst possible moment in the second set. At 5-5, Shapovalov had three chances to hold but double-faulted each time. While he saved one break point with a forehand winner, he later missed back-to-back forehands to go down 5-6. The Dutchman promptly served his way to a two-set lead.
It took time for Shapovalov to recover from the late slip up, committing four unforced errors to drop serve in his first service game of the third set.
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Van de Zandschulp gifted him the break back to get to 3-all, but Shapovalov was unable to consolidate. A run of four straight breaks ended with the Dutchman serving out the match, winning the last three points from 15-30 down by forcing a few final errors from the Canadian.
Leylah Annie Fernandez was also eliminated in her first-round match on Tuesday.
