Gabriel Diallo loses to Australian qualifier James Duckworth in Almaty Open 2nd round

Montreal's Gabriel Diallo is out of the Almaty Open tennis tournament after losing 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 6-4 to Australian qualifier James Duckworth in second-round action Wednesday in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Duckworth overcame 22 aces from fourth seed Diallo and did not face a break point in the match that lasted just over two and a half hours.

Diallo was accurate on 82 per cent of his first serves and won 74 per cent of his first service points, but he faced eight break points. While he fended off seven of them, Duckworth scored a crucial break to go up 4-3 in the third set.

Duckworth will face third seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy in the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 event.

It was the first ATP main-draw meeting between the players. Diallo defeated Duckworth in qualifying at the 2022 National Bank Open in Montreal.

Diallo, ranked 35th in the world, saw his record drop to 28-22 on the season.

Later Wednesday, third seed Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., faced Leo Borg, the son of tennis legend Bjorn Borg, in the second round of the ATP 250 Stockholm Open.

Fourth seed Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., faces Hungary's Dalma Galfi in second-round action at the Japan Women's Open on Thursday (Wednesday night ET) in Osaka.