TORONTO – Towering Canadian Gabriel Diallo defeated Italy’s Matteo Gigante 6-3, 7-6 (5) on Wednesday to reach the third round of the National Bank Open.
The 6-foot-8 right-hander from Montreal finished Gigante in 1 hour and 46 minutes in the rain.
Diallo saved two set points at 2-5 before breaking and eventually forced a tiebreaker. Gigante took a 5-3 lead, dropping the final four points and double faulted with match points.
“Tennis can get pretty crazy about the momentum switch you see during games,” Diallo said.
Diallo won his first ATP tour title in the Netherlands last month. He faces the winner of a late match between second-seeded Taylor Fritz of the United States and Roberto Carbalez Baena of Spain.
In the other second match, fourth-seeded American Ben Shelton defeated French qualifier Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 6-3, while sixth-seeded Russian Andrei Lebrev passed French Hugo Gaston 6-2, 6-3.
