All business on the dais after a disappointing third-round loss, Canada's Gabriel Diallo didn't mince words when describing his performance against Taylor Fritz on Friday night at the National Bank Open.
"It's just not an outing that you strive for, honestly, as a competitor," Diallo said. "I kind of let him bully me around the court a lot today and it's not a good feeling."
Fritz picked up early breaks in each set of the 6-4, 6-2 victory at Sobeys Stadium. The second-seeded American was in full control of the 75-minute match.
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At 1-1 in the second set, Diallo took the first three points but Fritz fought back to get the service break. He added another break in the penultimate game to eliminate the last Canadian player in the 96-man singles draw.
"Up 40-love on my serve, with courts like this, getting broken shouldn't happen," Diallo said. "It's a horrendous job on my end. Of course it was a big game-changer."
Diallo, the No. 27 seed, had six double-faults and 33 unforced errors to just 16 for Fritz.
The match was in sharp contrast to the five-set battle they had a month ago at Wimbledon. Fritz won that second-round encounter but was on his heels throughout.
Diallo simply couldn't pressure his opponent enough on this night and seemed unsettled n front of an adoring — although rather quiet — home crowd.
The six-foot-eight right-hander was spraying balls at times, struggled at the net and made too many mistakes.
Fritz seemed content to maintain a smart, steady game and it worked to perfection. And it didn't feel like a road game either.
"I thought the crowd was (very) nice for me playing the last player in the tournament from Canada," Fritz said. "I thought it was going to be a little bit more hostile.
"But I guess everyone is just so nice. I've dealt with a lot worse."
The other seeded Canadians — Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime (No. 21) and Denis Shapovalov (No. 22) of Richmond Hill, Ont. — lost their opening matches earlier in the week.
"For us to play here is always a privilege and we always want to do well here," Diallo said. "So the fact that we all lost early is disappointing, but I think in losses we can learn a lot and hopefully come back next year stronger."
Fritz will face Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round. The Czech posted a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Arthur Fils of France earlier in the day.
Other third-round winners included 20th-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, 13th-seeded Italian Flavio Cobolli, seventh-seeded American Frances Tiafoe and sixth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev.
Fourth-ranked Ben Shelton outlasted fellow American Brandon Nakashima 6-7 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (5) in the late match.
In doubles play, Sander Arends of the Netherlands and Argentina's Guido Andreozzi posted a 6-0, 6-3 win over the wild-card duo of Nicolas Arsenault of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Vancouver's Justin Boulais.
Arends and Andreozzi will next face Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont., and Calgary's Cleeve Harper.
Play continues through Thursday at the US$9.19-million tournament.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2025.
