Canada’s Diallo advances, Auger-Aliassime and Galarneau fall at National Bank Open

Gabriel Diallo of Canada serves the ball against Matteo Gigante of Italy during second round tennis action at the National Bank Open in Toronto on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

TORONTO — The National Bank Open took some body blows before the event due to some high-profile withdrawals.

The hits have kept coming since the seeded players took the court.

The two highest-seeded Canadians - No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and No. 22 Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., - are both out after losing their opening matches at the Masters 1000 men's tournament.

Auger-Aliassime dropped a 6-4, 6-4 decision to Hungary's Fabian Marozsan on Wednesday night, a day after Shapovalov lost his second-round match to American Learner Tien.

"I was trying my best on every point and it's not enough," Auger-Aliassime said. "So obviously on one hand, I have to give credit to my opponent.

"On the other hand, I have to dig a little bit deeper to see where I can find solutions within myself."

Montreal's Gabriel Diallo, the No. 27 seed, is the lone Canadian left in the 96-man singles draw with a full week of competition left to play.

Diallo earned a 6-3, 7-6 (5) rain-interrupted victory over Italy's Matteo Gigante in the afternoon. Wild-card entry Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Ont., dropped a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 decision to 13th-seeded Flavio Cobolli of Italy.

Top-ranked Jannik Sinner of Italy, No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, No. 5 Jack Draper of Britain and No. 6 Novak Djokovic of Serbia are all skipping the US$9.19-million hardcourt event.

Germany's Alexander Zverev tops a seeding list that includes American Taylor Fritz, Italy's Lorenzo Musetti, American Ben Shelton and Denmark's Holger Rune in the top five.

Marozsan broke Auger-Aliassime's serve at 4-4 in the first set when the Canadian double-faulted. Auger-Aliassime had a triple-break opportunity early in the second set but Maroszan fought back to hold.

The Hungarian had a break point at 3-3 and delivered a brilliant lob that Auger-Aliassime couldn't chase down from the net. He closed out the match in one hour 41 minutes.

Earlier in the day, Diallo saved two set points at 2-5 before breaking back and eventually forcing a tiebreaker. Gigante took a 5-3 lead but dropped the last four points, including a double-fault on match ball.

"Tennis is sometimes pretty crazy with the momentum switches that you see throughout a match," Diallo said.

Diallo won his first ATP Tour title last month at a 250-level stop in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.

He followed that up with a strong appearance at Wimbledon, pushing Fritz to a fifth set in a second-round loss.

They will meet again in Toronto after Fritz defeated Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena 7-5, 7-6 (1) in the late match Wednesday night.

Earlier in the week, Galarneau earned his first main draw victory on the top-flight tour with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 first-round win over Arthur Rinderknech of France.

"I'm really proud (of) that," said Galarneau, who's ranked 193rd in the world. "Also proud of the fight that I put up today. I thought I played pretty well, and a lot of positives that I can take away from this week."

The afternoon session was delayed for about half an hour due to showers in the northwest Toronto area.

In other second-round matches, Shelton beat French qualifier Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 6-3 and sixth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev defeated Hugo Gaston of France 6-2, 6-3.

Italy's Lorenzo Sonego, the No. 28 seed, topped China's Yunchaokete Bu 6-1, 6-4 and Australia's Aleksandar Vukic upset 31st-seeded Cameron Norrie of Britain 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3.

Australian Christopher O'Connell posted a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over 23rd-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and American Frances Tiafoe, the seventh seed, outlasted Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5).

Czechia's Jakub Mensik, the No. 12 seed, beat American qualifier Tristan Boyer 6-4, 6-4 and 19th-seeded Czech Jiri Lehecka defeated American Mackenzie McDonald 7-6 (2), 6-4.

Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the No. 20 seed, topped Corentin Moutet of France 6-4, 6-3 and 25th-seeded Brandon Nakashima got by fellow American Ethan Quinn 7-6 (6), 6-4. Arthur Fils, the No. 15 seed from France, beat Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-4.

Shapovalov withdrew from doubles competition Wednesday due to a left knee injury. He was scheduled to team with Auger-Aliassime against the American duo of Robert Galloway and Nakashima.

A replacement pairing will be named a few hours before Thursday's match, organizers said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2025.

Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press