After a more difficult first set, Quebec’s Gabriel Diallo gave American Mitchell Krueger only crumbs to win 6-7 (6), 6-1 and 6-1, thus moving on to the Cleveland Tennis Challenger quarterfinals on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old had made short work of his opponent from the day before, Olukayode Alafia Damina Ayeni, and was once again facing a crowd favourite. Diallo was dominant winning 65% of the points in the last two rounds. He broke his opponent’s serve six times.
Relying on an efficient first serve, Krueger stole the first set from the Montrealer. The American’s armor, however, began to show some breaches, he who had to save six break points.
Diallo, the 221st player in the ATP ranking, needed 2 h 18 min to overcome his opponent. The 6-foot-7 colossus shut out Krueger on the final play.
The eighth seed in Cleveland will face in the next round the favorite of the tournament, the Ecuadorian Emilio Gomez (106th), who defeated in three sets of 6-2, 3-6 and 6-2 the Briton Jack Pinnington Jones ( 582e).
