Canadian Gabriel Diallo defeated Croatian Borna Coric 7-6 (1), 6-4 in the round of 16 of the Almaty tennis tournament in Kazakhstan on Wednesday morning.

Diallo, who is ranked 118th in the world, thus won his first career duel against Coric, 96th . He sealed the outcome of this match presented on cement after one hour and 44 minutes of play.

The 23-year-old Quebecer also set the stage for a quarter-final duel in this ATP250 series tournament against Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, the tournament’s second seed. The latter reached the quarter-finals by defeating German Maximilian Marterer 6-2, 6-4.

Diallo, who is known for his power, dominated his opponent with his first serve. He hit a total of eight aces, compared to three for Coric, and he converted one of his four break points. On the other hand, his opponent was unable to take his serve away from him in two opportunities.

The representative of the maple leaf also dominated Coric 19-11 in terms of winning shots, and he committed one less direct error than him (34-33) during this confrontation.

After taking control of the 10th game of the second set 40-15, allowing him to obtain two match points, Diallo committed a double fault. He recovered, however, by hitting his eighth and final ace of the game in the following point to seal the outcome of the match.

Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime imitated his compatriot by qualifying for the quarter-finals of an ATP250 tournament, the European Open in Antwerp, Belgium.

Third-seeded Auger-Aliassime had a bye into the second round, where he defeated world No. 93 Marton Fucsovics of Hungary in three sets 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2.

The Quebecer, who scored 13 aces and was not broken once by his opponent, converted three of his 13 break points, all in the last two sets.

Auger-Aliassime was successful on 69% of his first serves and won 77% of the points on them.

In the quarter-finals, the 24-year-old athlete will face the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, who beat the Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-6 (2), 6-4 on Friday.

Dabrowski continues his journey to Japan
On the other hand, Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and her New Zealand playing partner Erin Routliffe reached the semi-finals of the women’s doubles tournament at the Japan Open, after beating Japanese Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi 6-2, 6-4.

Dabrowski and Routliffe, the tournament favourites, stepped up their game at opportune moments, saving 10 of the 11 break points offered to their opponents.

They also converted four of their 12 break points.

The Ottawa native and Routliffe won 66.7% of points with their first serve, and they were just as consistent with a 59.1% efficiency rate with their second serve.

In the semi-finals, they will face the winners of the match between the team formed by the Spanish Cristina Bucsa and the Romanian Monica Niculescu against the team composed of the Czech Marie Bouzkova and the Colombian Camila Osorio, which will take place late on Wednesday evening.

Dabrowski and Routliffe triumphed at the Rothesay Open in Birmingham, England, and have appeared in four other finals this season, including Wimbledon. They will be the second seeds in the women’s doubles tournament at the WTA Finals, which begins Nov. 2 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.