(Melbourne) Quebecer Gabriel Diallo had a good start, but his opponent was simply too strong in the first round of the Australian Open tennis tournament.
Diallo (41e) lost 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-4 and 6-2 to German Alexander Zverev (third) on Sunday.
Obviously not intimidated by his opponent, Diallo quickly scored a break to make it 3-1 in the opening set. Although he let this lead slip away, he still won the first five points of the tiebreaker to give himself the lead.
Zverev, who reached the final of this first major tournament of the season before losing to the Italian Jannik Sinner last year, was however whipped by this first round. He took the second run in 32 minutes and maintained his pace until the end.
Zverev slammed 15 aces and won 85% of rallies with his first serve ball. He will face in the second round the winner of a duel between the Australian Alexei Popyrin (49e) and the Frenchman Alexandre Muller (50e).
Diallo struggled with his second ball, committing five double faults and winning 38% of the points with it.
Having ended his long-standing association with coach Martin Laurandeau at the start of the year, Diallo begins the new season with three defeats in four games. The first two came at the hands of Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong (132), in the second round in Hong Kong, and Italian Andrea Vavassori (336e), in the first round in Adelaide.
Diallo reached the second round in Melbourne last year. His best Grand Slam result is a third-round loss at the 2024 U.S. Open. However, he is 0-8 against players in the top 10 on the ATP Tour.
Canadian Liam Draxl (145e) was also in action on Sunday morning in Melbourne, with a match against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur (66e).
Félix Auger-Aliassime (seventh) and Denis Shapovalov (23e), among men, just like Leylah Annie Fernandez (22e), Victoria Mboko (17e) and Marina Stakusic (127e), on the women’s side, are also in the running.
