Gabriel Diallo from Montreal made a stunning leap into the round of 16 at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, clinching victory in a mere 12 minutes on Saturday night.
Just a dozen minutes into his round of 32 clash with Belgium’s David Goffin, and leading 3-0, Goffin abruptly retired due to an injury.
Diallo is set to face the winner of the match between Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo and Belgium’s Zizou Bergs.
In other round of 32 encounters, Denis Shapovalov from Richmond Hill, Ont., is poised to compete against Jiri Lehecka of Czechia, while Felix Auger-Aliassime from Montreal gears up for a showdown with the Netherlands’ Jesper de Jong.
In a surprising turn of events, the hard-hitting Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard took down fourth-seeded Taylor Fritz with scores of 6-4, 7-5, advancing to the fourth round.
Mpetshi Perricard unleashed 12 aces against Fritz’s nine, breaking the American’s serve in each set and finishing the match in just 1 hour and 25 minutes to secure a last-16 face-off with the 10th-seeded Holger Rune.
In other early matches on Sunday, Rune triumphed over 21st-seeded Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-4, while Zizou Bergs achieved an upset over 19th-seeded Francisco Cerundolo, winning 7-6 (1), 6-3.
Later on Sunday, Jannik Sinner, the recent champion of the China Open in Beijing, was scheduled to take on Tallon Griekspoor in the third round.
Meanwhile, the remarkable Novak Djokovic battled against Yannick Hanfmann in his third-round match, aiming for a record-extending fifth title at the Shanghai Masters.
Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, fresh off a victory at the Japan Open last week, is absent from Shanghai due to some minor health concerns.
–with files from The Associated Press
