GRANBY/STARNBERG, August 26, 2022
The Championnats Banque Nationale de Granby held all eight of its round-of-16 contests on Thursday. The seeded players came out on top in all but one of the matches, where Canadian wild card entry Gabriel Diallo defeated No. 7 seed Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(2) to punch his ticket to his first ATP Challenger Tour quarterfinal.
The 20-year-old Montreal native struck 10 aces, won 71 per cent of his first-service points and saved one match point to seal victory in two hours and 23 minutes. World No. 519 Diallo, who captured his maiden Pro-Circuit title on the ITF World Tennis Tour in East Lansing, United States in June, will next take on Tunisian Aziz Dougaz. The lefty from La Marsa fought past US-American Omni Kumar 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 56 minutes.
Flying high in Granby 🙌
🇨🇦 Gabriel Diallo saves a match point and defeats Stebe 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(2) to reach a Challenger quarterfinal for the very first time!#ATPChallenger | @TennisCanada pic.twitter.com/A9LokiR12U
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) August 25, 2022
Diallo isn’t the only youngster leaving his mark in Granby, as 17-year-old Juncheng Shang of China defeated qualifier Coline Markes from the United States 6-2, 6-2 in 63 minutes to reach the stage of the final eight. Shang will next play Jordan Thomson from Australia.
US-American qualifier Aidan Mayo continued his fine run of form this week with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Henri Patten from Great Britain in 68 minutes and faces Nicola Mejia of Colombia in the quarterfinals. Also reaching the last eight are Hiroki Moriya of Japan former World No. 25 Ugo Humbert of France.
