Montreal’s Diallo advances to French Open second round with upset of Cerundolo

By Canadian Press on May 26, 2025.

PARIS — Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo earned his first ever French Open main-draw win with a 7-5, 6-3 6-4 upset of 18th seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina in first-round action Monday.

Diallo picked up a big break to go up 4-3 in the third set when Cerundolo committed an unforced error on game point. The Canadian held serve the rest of the way to finish the straight-set win in two hours 10 minutes.

Overall, the 23-year-old Diallo broke Cerundolo four times on 11 chances. Cerundolo, meanwhile, converted the only break point chance he had.

Diallo will next face the winner of a match between Marcos Giron of the United States and Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands.

Diallo made his Grand Slam main draw debut at last year’s French Open where he lost in the first round to Japan’s Kei Nishikori.

He went on to advance to the third round of the 2024 U.S. Open and won his opening match at this year’s Australian Open.

Later Monday, 27th seed Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., faced Spain’s Pedro Martinez.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 26, 2025.

The Canadian Press