In a thrilling bid to qualify for the Miami Open, Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo narrowly missed the mark, facing a 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 defeat against American competitor Brandon Holt on Tuesday.
The towering six-foot-eight athlete unleashed an impressive 15 aces during the match but unfortunately surrendered a pivotal break to Holt in the 11th game of that nail-biting third set.
With the match hanging in the balance at 6-5, Holt served an ace on match point, sealing his victory.
At just 23 years old, Diallo was aiming to secure his spot in the main draw of a Masters-level tournament for the second consecutive time. Earlier this month, he successfully qualified and reached the second round at Indian Wells before facing a defeat against France’s No. 21 Arthur Fils.
As no other Canadians advanced through the qualifying rounds, Montreal’s 18th seed, Félix Auger-Aliassime, and 27th seed Denis Shapovalov from Richmond Hill, Ontario, remain as the sole Canadians in the men’s main draw in Miami.
Both Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov have received first-round byes as seeded players and are set to stage their second-round matches on Friday.
