Gabriel Diallo Stuns 40,000-Strong Louis Armstrong Crowd by Winning Tiebreak Against Tommy Paul in First Set

Gabriel Diallo is riding on the momentum he has gained in the last couple of weeks at the US Open 2024. After defeating Frenchman Arthur Fils, Diallo came into the match against the United States’ Tommy Paul with confidence. And the Canadian had a dream start to the third round match, winning the first set in a tiebreak.

Having dropped merely a single set through the first two matches, Paul was expected to dominate Diallo, the World No.143. The American star was the first among the two to gain an advantage, breaking Diallo’s serve during the fifth game of the first set. However, the 6ft 8” player would bounce back, breaking Paul’s serve in the following game.

Remarkably, both the players would constantly go on to break each other’s serve for the next four consecutive games. On 3 crucial instances, Paul had the lead against him, i.e. being 5-4 up, 6-5 up and 4-2 up in the tiebreak. But since he failed to capitalize on them with uncharacteristic errors and a shaky forehand, Diallo took advantage of it to take a vital lead in the match.

Diallo, who hails from Montreal in Canada, showed a lot of poise and kept things simple even when there was a lot of uncertainty. His serving ability was on full display as he recorded more aces (5-2) and had a better first serve percentage (68%-64%) than his opponent.

Interestingly, this is the first tiebreak Diallo has won in the 2024 season. Prior to the US Open clash against Paul, the Canadian lost all of his last four tiebreaks. So that would give him a huge boost.

However, despite having been 0-1 down, Paul brought himself back into the match by winning the second set, 6-3. He went on to clinch the next two sets as well, 6-1, 7-6. So Paul still remains the favorite to book a spot into the fourth round for a matchup against the top seed, Jannik Sinner.