PARIS — Canadians Gabriel Diallo and Denis Shapovalov won their opening men's singles matches in straight sets Monday at the French Open.
Montreal's Diallo earned his first career main-draw win at the clay-court Grand Slam with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 upset of 18th seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.
Later, the 27th-seeded Shapovalov from Richmond Hill, Ont., downed Spain's Pedro Martinez 6-2, 6-0, 6-3.
Diallo picked up a big break to go up 4-3 in the third set when Cerundolo committed an unforced error on game point. The Canadian held serve the rest of the way to finish the win in two hours 10 minutes.
Overall, the 23-year-old Diallo broke Cerundolo four times on 11 chances. Cerundolo, meanwhile, converted the only break point chance he had.
Diallo, who entered the French Open ranked 54th in the world, will next face No. 35 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands.
Diallo made his Grand Slam main draw debut at last year's French Open, where he lost in the first round to Japan's Kei Nishikori.
He went on to advance to the third round of the 2024 U.S. Open and won his opening match at this year's Australian Open.
Shapovalov needed just 99 minutes to complete a dominant win over Martinez that saw him out-ace the Spaniard 8-0 and win eight breaks on 11 chances.
The 26-year-old Canadian will next face Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic, who is ranked 153rd.
Shapovalov reached the third round at Roland Garros in the last two tournaments but has never been farther.
Canada's other men's singles entry — 29th-seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal — faces Italy's Matteo Arnaldi on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 26, 2025.
The Canadian Press
