For much of the second-round clash on Wednesday, it looked like Diallo was in control—not only did he roll through the first set in just 30 minutes, but then, after Wong jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second set, he caught back up to 5-all, and even had double break point in the next game that would have given him a chance to serve for it.
But Wong held then broke to take the set, and then—after watching another 5-2 lead evaporate to 5-all in the third set—he again regrouped, holding for 6-5 then breaking one last time to close it out.
Wong’s win over the No. 40-ranked Diallo was also the second-biggest win of his career by ranking, having beaten a No. 14-ranked Ben Shelton in the second round of the Masters 1000 in Miami last year.
“Gabriel is such a great player,” Wong said in his on-court interview. “We pushed each other to the limit, and at the end, I don’t know—I was up 5-2, then he came back to 5-all, and I was like, ‘Wow, I don’t know if I can close this out.’ And then at the end, I just kept believing in myself, kept believing in what I was working on in these past years.”
