Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo was outstanding in his bid, winning his home title in the Masters-level Madrid Open Tennis Championships after losing 6-3, 7-6 (6) to Croatian veteran Borna Coric in his final round of qualifying on Tuesday.
Coric saved all nine breakout points he faced when he broke Diallo twice.
Diallo led 6-5 in the second set tiebreak before surrendering to a three-game winning streak, including doubles at match points.
As the third seed in the qualifying round, Diallo is likely to move forward as a “lucky loser.” If a player who has entered the home game exits the game, the highest loser in the final round of the qualifying match will bring that available location.
The second seed in the qualifying round was Jacob Fearnley of England, who won the match against Germany’s top seed Daniel Altmaier on Tuesday.
Diallo ranked 78th in the world, having won two consecutive Masters-level draws last month in Indian Wells and Miami, California, losing twice to France’s Arthur Fils in the second round.
Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime (18) and Ontario’s Denis Shapovalov, (29) both were in the first round of Madrid’s main draw as seeds.
In the women’s draw, Leylah Fernandez, the 25th seed of Laval, Quebec, first round goodbye, while 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu, Mississauga, Ontario, continued to be injured when she faced American McCartney Kessler in Wednesday’s first round.
