De Minaur rallies past Diallo to stay in Turin hunt
Under Paris lights, Alex de Minaur turned a shaky start into a gritty escape, outlasting Gabriel Diallo’s power surge to safeguard his spot in the Nitto ATP Finals chase.
In the echoing arena of the Paris Masters, Alex de Minaur absorbed a fierce opening onslaught from the towering Gabriel Diallo, his quick feet and sharper focus pulling him through a match that swung like a pendulum. The Australian, clinging to seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, needed every ounce of his baseline guile to claim a 7-6(8), 4-6, 6-3 win after two hours and 37 minutes of high-stakes exchanges. This survival act, laced with the urgency of the looming Nitto ATP Finals from November 9-16, underscored his season of hard-court dominance, now at 41 victories.
Diallo surges early, De Minaur claws back
Diallo seized the first-set tie-break with blistering serves, racing to a 5-0 edge that had the crowd holding its breath as the Canadian’s inside-in forehands pinned De Minaur deep. But the Australian’s relentless retrieval flipped the momentum, stringing together five straight points with deep crosscourt returns that exposed Diallo’s positioning flaws. Holding three set points—including two on his own delivery—the 24-year-old faltered under pressure, his forehand crumbling into errors as De Minaur’s defense forced 36 miscues from that side alone.
The set’s turning point came on a razor-thin crosscourt winner from De Minaur, sealing the breaker and shifting the psychological tide amid the indoor hard court’s quick tempo. Diallo’s total of 66 unforced errors dwarfed De Minaur’s 32, a gap born from the Australian’s ability to extend rallies and turn power into peril. As murmurs rippled through the stands, this resilience echoed the mental steel De Minaur has honed through a grueling campaign.
Errors mount, composure holds firm
The second set slipped Diallo’s way as De Minaur’s lapses allowed a break at 4-4, the Canadian leveling with a down-the-line backhand that sliced through the Australian’s coverage. Yet even in retreat, De Minaur probed with inside-out forehands and underspin slices, stretching the bigger man’s reach and sowing doubt on the Paris surface. By the third, his one–two combinations of serve and approach dismantled Diallo’s rhythm, breaking early to pull ahead and hold the line.
With just 35 points separating him from sixth-placed Ben Shelton—who pressed on in Paris that Wednesday—De Minaur’s focus sharpened, his movement a blur that neutralized the hefty serving. Meanwhile, Italian Lorenzo Sonego stunned countryman and eighth-placed Lorenzo Musetti 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, injecting fresh chaos into the qualification scramble. This win marked De Minaur as the fourth man since 2016 to reach the Round of 16 in at least eight of the season’s nine ATP Masters 1000 events, aligning him with Milos Raonic in 2016, Rafael Nadal in 2017, and Alexander Zverev in 2024.
Khachanov looms in next test
Ahead lies 10th seed Karen Khachanov, whose 2018 triumph at this Paris Masters still casts a shadow, and who holds a 2-1 edge in their ATP Head2Head clashes. De Minaur’s speed will counter the Russian’s baseline firepower, potentially with angled approaches targeting that flat backhand to dictate points. As the Race To Turin tightens, this matchup demands the same unflinching adaptability, with every rally a step closer to the season’s pinnacle stage.
