Montreal’s rising star, Gabriel Diallo, saw his remarkable journey at the 2025 Madrid Open come to a close in the quarterfinals on Thursday, falling to Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti with a score of 6-4, 6-3.
Known for his formidable serve, Diallo struggled to find his groove, ending the match without a single ace and managing to win only 24% of his second-serve points.
Musetti, the tournament’s 10th seed, successfully broke Diallo’s serve four times, maintaining constant pressure throughout the match.
Utilizing a strategic game plan, the Italian consistently returned from deep behind the baseline and focused on Diallo’s forehand, thereby shortening rallies and minimizing the Canadian’s serving threats.
“I may not have displayed my best tennis, but the key was to secure the win regardless of how I played,” Musetti reflected after his victory.
In the semifinals, Musetti will take on Jack Draper of Britain, who is seeded fifth.
Diallo, who entered the main draw as a fortunate lucky loser, made it to his first ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal, triumphing over Zizou Bergs, Kamil Majchrzak, former world No. 8 Cameron Norrie, and 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov along the way.
Starting the tournament with a career-high ranking of No. 78, he is on track to ascend to No. 53 in the ATP live rankings.
When the new rankings are published on Monday, Diallo is set to become the third highest-ranked Canadian, positioned behind Denis Shapovalov, who is expected to move up to No. 28 after reaching the Round of 32 in Madrid, and Félix Auger-Aliassime, projected to drop to No. 27 following a Challenger Tour loss in Portugal on Thursday.
