Canadian tennis player Gabriel Diallo kicked off his grass-court season with a 7-5, 7-6 (2) win over Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic on Monday at the Libema Open.
The 23-year-old from Montreal had 13 aces and no double faults to pick up his first Tour-level win on grass at the ATP/WTA 250 tournament in s’-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
Diallo had the only break of the match, and crucially it came in the final game of the first set when the Canadian returned to love. He did not have another chance to break in the 92-minute contest.
Vukic was not as productive on his chances as Diallo saved all four break points he faced, including two in the 11th game of the second set.
Diallo will face another Australian, sixth seed Jordan Thompson, in the second round.
In women’s doubles action, Canadians Bianca Andreescu and Carson Branstine defeated Russian pair Anastasia Potapova and Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6 (2), 7-5. They will next face the second-seeded team of Hungary’s Fanny Stollar and Russia’s Irina Khromacheva.
Meanwhile, at the WTA 500 Queen’s Club Championships in London, England, Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., lost her first-round match 7-6 (4), 6-2 to Germany’s Tatjana Maria.
Maria fired seven aces and converted three breaks on seven chances, compared to one in four chances for Fernandez.