MADRID/WASHINGTON, May 1, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)
Unheralded and unseeded Gabriel Diallo of Canada, has gone from being a qualifying draw lucky loser to a quarterfinalist at the ATP Masters 1000 Mutua Madrid Open in the Spanish capital city – all in a week’s time.
Talk about a fairytale week – a dream run – but it’s been very real for the 6-foot-8-inch Diallo. The former University of Kentucky standout has been winning round-by-round by playing big-man, first-strike tennis.
Gabriel Diallo’s EPIC Madrid ride
Apr. 22: Loses in last round of qualies
Apr. 24: Enters MD as lucky loser
Apr. 26: Scheduled to play Alcaraz in R2, faces lucky loser Majchrzak instead
Apr. 29: Rallies from a set down vs. Norrie
Apr. 30: Saves 3 MP’s vs. Dimitrov#MMOpen pic.twitter.com/hbxfMNCaMW— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 30, 2025
On Wednesday night inside Arantxa Sanchez Stadium, the 78th-ranked Diallo saved three match points during a second-set tie-break and went on to beat World No. 16 and 15th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, 5-7, 7-6 (7), 6-4, in two hours and 22 minutes to advance to the quarterfinal round on Thursday. It was the biggest win of his young career.
Into the last eight, Diallo will face World No. 11 and 10th seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, in a prime-time match on Manolo Santana Stadium. Early Thursday, Musetti eliminated World No. 7 and sixth seed Alex de Minaur of Australia, 6-4, 6-2, in an hour and 23 minutes to advance. Diallo and Musetti have split two previous meetings, with the Canadian prevailing in a 2023 Davis Cup tie, and the Italian winning earlier this year at Hong Kong.
Men’s singles quarterfinals
[20] Cerúndolo vs. [22] Mensik
[14] Ruud vs. [9] Medvedev
[5] Draper vs. Arnaldi
[10] Musetti vs. Diallo@atptour | #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/MELtnaXfRT— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) April 30, 2025
A turning point during the fourth-round tussle between Diallo and Dimitrov came when the Canadian, trailing 3-5 during the second-set tie-break, won a crucial point in which Dimitrov tumbled to the clay and was bloodied.
Although Dimitrov was able to hold serve and set up two match points at 6-4, he failed to convert either of them, and Diallo fought off a third match point at 7-6 before forcing a decider. From there, the momentum shifted in Diallo’s favor starting from when he broke Dimitrov in the opening game to begin the third set. While Dimitrov had been 5-0 in deciding sets this season, he wasn’t able to get over the finish line against the 23-year-old from Montreal, who grew up as a multi-sport athlete – dabbling in track and field, gymnastics and handball – before settling on tennis.
Lucky loser Diallo survives an epic three-setter against Dimitrov 5-7, 7-6(7), 6-4, saving three match points to reach his career-first Masters 1000 quarterfinals.@atptour | #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/GB1vGiUwG
— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) April 30, 2025
“I honestly thought I was going home,” Diallo said during his on-court interview afterward with ATP Media. “I thought the margins were so thin, we were both serving really well. … It might be the best serving performance I ever displayed in my whole life. I was lucky I got the point at 4-6 with [his] loose error, and then I was really confident at 5-6 behind my serve. Then I saved another match point. Tennis is up and down, so you just try and manage. Luckily today I managed to flip and win the match.”
Diallo finished with 31 winners – 19 of them from his forehand side, including eight aces – against 25 unforced errors, compared to 39 winners – including 14 aces – and 28 unforced errors by Dimitrov. Each competitor converted one break point and Dimitrov outpointed Diallo 96-95.
Diallo’s dream run continues!
The world No.78 books a maiden Masters 1000 QF in some style@MutuaMadridOpen | #MMOpen pic.twitter.com/5MhVrt6tQR
— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 30, 2025
After being inserted as a lucky loser in the main draw replacing an ailing Yoshito Nishioka of Japan, Diallo defeated No. 50 Zizou Bergs of Belgium the first round in straight sets. Since then, he’s been pushed to three sets in each of his past three matches, against No. 90 Kamil Majchrzak from Poland, No. 91 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain and Dimitrov. The last two matches have been come-from-behind triumphs. Diallo has improved his main-draw win-loss record to 10-8 and his PIF ATP Live Ranking has shot up 25 spots to a career-best No. 53.
Wednesday’s Mutua Madrid Open results
Thursday’s Mutua Madrid order of play
By the numbers
Gabriel Diallo has entered the draw as a lucky loser for the third time in four ATP Masters 1000 events he’s play in this season – also at Indian Wells and Miami. Wednesday night was the first time he’s played in an ATP Masters 1000 fourth-round match. By defeating Grigor Dimitrov, Diallo became the first lucky loser to reach an ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal since Alexei Popyrin at Cincinnati in 2023.
“Quotable …”
“I’ve been told the conditions have suited me really well. I didn’t put any expectations or barriers [on myself]. I’ve kept an open mind – but to tell you I would make the quarterfinals, I don’t know if I would believe that. I’ve tried to go step by step but it seems to be going faster.”
– Lucky loser Gabriel Diallo of Canada, during his on-court interview Wednesday night after defeating World No. 16 Grigor Dimitrov for the biggest win of his career. He was asked whether he could have predicted his good fortune in Madrid a week ago after being elevated to the main draw following his second-round qualifying-draw loss against 104th-ranked Bornic Coric of Croatia in straight sets.
