Cameron Norrie Angle: De Minaur Beats Diallo 7-6 (8), 6-3

cameron norrie headlines the Queen’s Club card as Alex de Minaur beat Gabriel Diallo 7-6, 6-3 on Tuesday in first-round action at the HSBC Championships. The top seed survived a tight opener and moved into a second-round meeting with Denis Shapovalov.

Diallo Pushes De Minaur

De Minaur had to work for the opening set. He outlasted Diallo in a back-and-forth tiebreaker before forcing an unforced error when the Montreal player was serving on set point.

That left the Australian with the early edge, and he kept it through the second set. Diallo still found pressure points, but he failed to convert three game points in a game that stretched to 15 minutes 25 seconds.

Queen’s Club Break Point

The decisive stretch came when de Minaur converted his fourth break point to move ahead 3-1 in the second set. From there, he protected the lead and closed out the match in straight sets.

Tuesday’s result also carried a ranking hit for Diallo. His world ranking dropped 30 points to No. 84 after he failed to win a match in his title defence at last week’s Libema Open, and his record this season fell to 6-15.

Shapovalov Awaits De Minaur

Next up is Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., who reached the match by ending a five-match losing streak with a first-round win over Britain’s Jack Pinnington Jones on Monday. The winner of that meeting will keep moving through the ATP 500 grass-court event at London’s Queen’s Club.