(Toronto) Quebecer Gabriel Diallo caused a surprise on Tuesday at the National Bank Open, beating the 21st player in the world Daniel Evans in two sets of 7-6 (7) and 7-5.
Evans reached the semi-finals of the tournament in Montreal last year.
Diallo, 21 and 141st in the world, will face Alex de Minaur, who is ranked 18th, in the second round.
Briton Andy Murray began his quest for a fourth National Bank Open title by defeating Italian Lorenzo Sonego in straight sets 7-6 (3), 6-0.
Murray, who triumphed in 2009, 2010 and 2015, resisted two set points to finally come out on top in the tiebreaker. He then made his three break points in the second set to advance to the second round.
Murray will now face the winner of Tuesday night’s duel between 10th-seeded Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime and Australian Max Purcell.
Earlier in the day, American Sebastian Korda easily got the better of Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry in straight sets 6-3, 6-2, in 72 minutes.
Also, qualifier Marcos Giron defeated Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6) after two hours and seven minutes of play. Giron joined Denmark’s Holger Rune (no 5) in the second round. .
