Canada’s Diallo falls short in Miami Open qualifying with loss to Holt

Gabriel Diallo, of Canada, reacts during his Davis Cup qualifying tennis match against Fabian Marozsan, of Hungary, in Montreal on Sunday, February 2, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

MIAMI – Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo fell just short of qualifying for the main draw of the Miami Open tennis tournament with a 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 loss to American Brandon Holt on Tuesday.

The six-foot-eight Diallo hammered 15 aces in the match but gave up a crucial break to Holt in the 11th game of the third set.

Up 6-5 and serving for the match, Holt completed the win with an ace on match point.

Gabriel Diallo, of Canada, reacts during his Davis Cup qualifying tennis match against Fabian Marozsan, of Hungary, in Montreal on Sunday, February 2, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

The 23-year-old Diallo was looking to advance to his second straight Masters-level main draw. He qualified and advanced to the second round at Indian Wells earlier this month before losing to No. 21 Arthur Fils of France.

With no Canadians advancing through qualifying, 18th seed Félix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and 27th seed Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., are the only Canadians in the men’s main draw in Miami.

Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov have first-round byes as seeded players and are scheduled to play in the second round on Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2025.