Twenty-three-year-old Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Québec, has every reason to be proud of his first experience at a Masters 1000 tournament.
The North Carolina State University graduate is just beginning his professional career and, all in all, his tennis future looks bright.
Against the far more experienced Grigor Dimitrov on Centre Court at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers, he fell in two sets (6-4, 7-5) at the outcome of a 95-minute battle. He even managed to take a 5-3 lead in the second before the high stakes started to get to him.
Galarneau’s talent didn’t go unnoticed by his rival.
“He’s very consistent, and his serves are excellent. Very quickly, I saw he was able to extend the rallies and make good choices.”
Dimitrov was thrilled to play in front of such an amped up crowd.
“The atmosphere was incredible even though I wasn’t the favourite. I’m happy to have performed well on Centre Court, where I don’t play very often. Despite the rain delays, I’m proud of the result.”
As the Quebecer left the court, the fans cheered loudly.
Less than two minutes
After the match, Denis Shapovalov walked onto the court to complete yesterday’s match against Alex de Minaur, who was leading 7-5, 6-6 (3-3) when play resumed.
It took the Australian just under two minutes (1:52) to win the tiebreak 7-4 and hand the Canadian another tough loss.
On the other courts, Maxime Cressy of the US defeated Aslan Karatsev, who’s stateless in the official draw, in straight sets (6-4, 6-4).
In the duel of French qualifiers, Adrian Mannarino triumphed over his young countryman Arthur Rinderknech (6-3, 6-3).
