Canada's Gabriel Diallo advances to 2nd round of Madrid Open qualifying
6-foot-8 Montrealer will face Croatia's Borna Coric on Tuesday for spot in main draw
Montreal's Gabriel Diallo advanced to the second round of qualifying at the Madrid Open tennis tournament with a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over American Nicolas Moreno De Alboran on Monday.
The 23-year-old Diallo, seeded third in the qualifying tournament for the ATP Masters clay-court event, had nine aces to Moreno de Alboran's one.
The six-foot-eight Canadian saved the only break point he faced by converting three of the seven chances he had, including one in the deciding game.
Diallo will face Croatian veteran Borna Coric on Tuesday for a spot in the main draw. Coric defeated Finland's Otto Virtanen 6-7 (1), 7-5, 6-2 on Monday.
Diallo, ranked 78th in the world, made it into two straight Masters-level main draws last month at Indian Wells, Calif., and Miami, losing to France's Arthur Fils in the second round both times.
Canadians in main draw
Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal (18) and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., (29) both have byes in the first round of the main draw in Madrid as seeded players.
In the women's draw, 25th-seed Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., has a first-round bye while 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., continues her comeback from injury when she faces American McCartney Kessler in a first-round match on Wednesday,
