'S-HERTOGENBOSCH — Gabriel Diallo has won his first ATP Tour title.
The 23-year-old Montreal native defeated Belgium's Zizou Bergs 7-5, 7-6 (8) to win the Libema Open tennis tournament on Sunday.
In what was a tight, back-and-forth second set, Diallo was down 6-4 in the tiebreaker before pulling victory from the jaws of defeat. He got three straight points from then on before eventually taking the win.
“Oh man, I don’t have the words. It’s something that you dream of for your whole life since you were a little kid, to get an ATP Tour title,” Diallo said in his on-court interview. “The fact that I was able to do it here after losing a final last year, it just means the world to me.
"I’m very happy, not only for myself but for my whole team.”
Diallo had nine aces, won 76 per cent of his first-serve points and had 23 winners. He also broke on his lone opportunity, while saving his opponent's two break point chances.
The six-foot-eight Diallo was the first Canadian men’s singles finalist in event history. He is also just the fourth Canadian to win an ATP Tour singles title this century after Milos Raonic (eight titles), Felix Auger-Aliassime (seven titles) and Denis Shapovalov (three titles).
Diallo will rise 11 spots to a career-high No. 44 in the ATP rankings on Monday. He already guaranteed his top-50 debut by reaching the semifinals.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2025.
The Canadian Press
