Who is Gabriel Diallo, Jannik Sinner’s opponent in Cincinnati
After limping through the second round of the Cincinnati tournament, Jannik Sinner will face another up-and-coming player on the ATP Tour, Canadian Gabriel Diallo. Current No. 35 in the world rankings, Diallo (who being seeded could skip the first round) defeated Sebastian Baez of Argentina on Saturday evening in Italy: 7-5, 6-4 the final score.
Gabriel Diallo was born in Montreal, in the Canadian province of Quebec, on Sept. 24, 2001, just over a month older than Jannik Sinner (born Aug. 16 instead). He made his debut on the professional circuit in 2018, however, having to wait until June 12, 2022 to win his first tournament, the East Lansing Futures in the final against Andres Martin of the United States.
The first tournament he won was the East Lansing Futures.
On the minor circuit he would go on to win four more tournaments in singles (Challenger Granby 2022, Futures Montreal 2023, Challenger Bratislava 2023, and Challenger Chicago 2024), as well as the 2023 Winnipeg Challenger in doubles, paired with the Swiss Leonardo Riedi, beating Canadians Juan Carlos Aguilar and Taha Baadi. He was also part of the Davis Cup team that beat Australia in the final in 2022.
This season, Gabriel Diallo won his first tournament on the major circuit, the ’ATP 250 in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, beating 7-5, 7-6(8) Belgian Zizou Bergs in the final on June 15. Earlier, on Oct. 2024, he had played the final of the tournament in Almaty, Kazakhstan, but lost in three sets to Karen Khachanov. The one scheduled in Cincinnati will be his first-ever head-to-head clash against Jannik Sinner.
