Gabriel Diallo’s first piece of hardware on the ATP Tour is a runner-up trophy after he lost in his first tour-level final on Sunday to world No. 26 Karen Khachanov at the Almaty Open.
Slow starts in each set forced the Canadian to play from behind for most of the day. He fought hard, even managing to force a decider despite trailing by a set and 4-2 in the second, but he never managed to gain an advantage in a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 loss.
Not only was it the first final of Diallo’s career, it was the first time the former NCAA player won more than two main draw matches in a row at a tour-level event. He came into Almaty without a main-draw win at an ATP Tour event in 2024 (not including his third-round appearance at the US Open).
While the 23-year-old from Montreal put a solid 70 per cent of his first serves in play, Khachanov feasted on the Canadian’s second serve, winning 66 per cent of those points. Diallo was under constant pressure on his serve, facing 19 break points in the match. While he saved 13, he was broken six times.
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It was a nervy start for Diallo in his first final, as he opened the match with three consecutive forehand unforced errors to go down love-40. While he saved the first three break points, Khachanov blasted his way to a fourth and another forehand miss from the Canadian cost him the early break.
Khachanov, the third seed in Almaty, never gave the Canadian a chance to recover from the slow start. He lost just three points on serve in the first set, adding another break in the fifth game and finished off the opener with a hold to love.
All signs pointed to Khachanov running away with the final when Diallo sent a backhand long and then missed a smash to drop serve in the third game of the second set. The No. 3 seed then had five break points at 4-2 to make it a double break. But the Canadian rose to the challenge, finding another gear to power his way out of the jam with three winners and two unreturnable serves.
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That escape shifted the momentum to Diallo, who got a look at a break point on Khachanov’s serve for the first time in the following game. After a backhand passing shot winner gave the Canadian a 15-40 opening, a stabbing backhand volley on the first break point leveled the set at 4-4.
The door opened again when the third seed was serving to send the set to a tiebreak at 5-6. Khachanov fell behind 15-40 but managed to save the first two set points. Diallo created a third and drove a backhand return deep which Khachanov could not handle, pulling his forehand wide to send the match to a decider.
Despite having won five of the last six games to take the second set, Diallo was unable to carry the momentum into the decider. Like the previous sets, he was under pressure early on serve and was once again broken in the third game to fall behind an early break.
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Khachanov was playing his way into every game on Diallo’s serve in the decider. He had a chance to make it a double break in the fifth game before the Canadian netted a forehand in the seventh to set the third seed up to serve out the match at 5-2.
Down a double break, Diallo made one last push to stay alive, breaking the six-time ATP titlist as he served for the match. However, the struggles to hold serve continued and Diallo was broken once again in the following game, this time to surrender the match.
Just by reaching the final, Diallo was already assured of entering the Top 100 in the ATP rankings on Monday. He is projected to jump just inside the Top 90 on Monday.
