gabriel diallo
MALLORCA, Spain — Gabriel Diallo picked up another win on grass as Canada’s tennis players continued to prepare for Wimbledon.
The 23-year-old Diallo advanced to the second round of the Mallorca Championships with a 7-5, 6-3 win over local favourite Jaume Munar of Spain on Monday, which took just 56 minutes to complete.
The six-foot-eight Diallo fired 10 aces and saved both break points he faced. He broke Munar three times on four chances, including twice in a four-match winning streak to claim the second set.
Diallo, 23, who won his first career ATP tournament two weeks ago at the grass-court Libema Open in the Netherlands, entered the tournament with a career-high world ranking of No. 41. He will next face Serbia’s Laslo Djere at the ATP 250 grass-court tournament.
Meanwhile, the top-seeded team of Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand were eliminated in the first round of action at the WTA 500 Bad Homburg Open in Germany.
Dabrowski, who played her first match after missing a month with a rib issue, seemed poised for a triumphant return after she and Dabrowski took the first set of a match against Taiwan’s Wu Fang-Hsien and China’s Jiang Xinyu. However, the reigning WTA Finals doubles champions ultimately lost the match 6-7 (7), 7-5, 10-8.
In men’s Wimbledon qualifying in London, Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win over Murphy Cassone of the United States. He will next face British wild card Oliver Tarvet.
Liam Draxl, from Newmarket, Ont., failed in his bid to qualify after losing 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to Serbian veteran Dusan Lajovic.
Women’s qualifying starts tomorrow, with Toronto’s Victoria Mboko, Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino, Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., Kayla Cross of London, Ont., and Carson Branstine all scheduled to play.
Branstine, who was born and raised in California but represents Canada internationally, has an intriguing opening qualifying match against Lois Boisson. The top-qualifying seed captivated fans in her home country with an unexpected run to the semifinals of the French Open earlier this month.
Main-draw action at Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the tennis season, begins June 30 on the grass courts of the All England Club.