VANCOUVER \u2014 He expected a dogfight, but Gabriel Diallo didn\u2019t think he would be the one bitten.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old from Montreal, ranked 39th in the world, lost to No. 253-ranked Gustavo Heide 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-7 (3) as Canada split its opening singles matches against Brazil in Friday\u2019s first round of Davis Cup Qualifiers.<\/p>\n
In the evening’s first match, Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont., ranked 145th, defeated 207th-ranked Lucas Reis da Silva, 6-3, 6-3 in 75 minutes.<\/p>\n
On paper the 24-year-old Diallo was expected to have the upper hand against Heide.<\/p>\n
Noted for his cannon serves, Diallo\u2019s return game struggled. That allowed Heide to remain in the match, and force Diallo into errors that brought cheers from the Brazilian fans inside the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre at the University of British Columbia. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was ready for a dogfight today, unfortunately it didn\u2019t go my way,\u201d said Diallo, who lost the match in two hours, 42 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt pretty confident with my serve. Some of them he played really well. Some of them maybe I could have been better. There were key moments that I wish I played a little bit better or with a little more conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diallo came to Vancouver after suffering a first-round loss to Germany\u2019s Alexander Zverev at the Australian Open. Last year was his first full season on tour where he broke into the Top 50, climbing as high as No. 33. He won his first tour-level title on grass at the Libema Open in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
Heide said patience paid off against Diallo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew it was going to be a really tough match,\u201d the 23-year-old right-hander from Sao Paulo said through an interpreter. \u201cI knew he was a good server, and I managed to return really well during the match. When I had the opportunity, I was there and made good serves to close the match.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brazilian captain Jaime Oncins praised Heide\u2019s resilience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way he fights,\u201d said Oncins. \u201cThe score doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re fighting for the next point, and that\u2019s what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the other match, Draxl broke Reis da Silva\u2019s service three times while winning the second set. On back-to-back plays in the opening game he scored a point with a seeing-eye cross-court shot, then took command with a powerful overhand smash.<\/p>\n
Draxl admitted he breathed a sigh of relief after his victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a weight off my shoulders,\u201d said the 24-year-old. \u201cYou want to put Canada up to start. You\u2019re trying to do the best you can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winning a set on break points early in the opening set gave Draxl extra confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really nice to get that hold under my belt,\u201d he said. \u201cI just started flowing after that.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is really tough and I knew he wasn\u2019t going to go anywhere. That\u2019s why I had to keep my nose ahead because I knew he could play some really good tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n
The win gives Brazil momentum heading into Saturday\u2019s matches in the best-of-five showdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think coming back with that win, it\u2019s very important to us,\u201d said Oncins. \u201cIt gives us a lot of energy for the rest of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Draxl and Calgary\u2019s Cleeve Harper will face Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos in a doubles match, while Diallo meets Reis da Silva in singles. If a fifth and deciding match is required, Draxl will play Heider in singles.<\/p>\n
Canada came into the competition ranked No. 9 while Brazil is No. 18.<\/p>\n
Harper and Draxl are in tough against the Brazilian doubles pair that lost in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.<\/p>\n
Canadian captain Frank Dancevic is confident his team can regroup for the final day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal right now is just focus match by match,\u201d said Dancevic. \u201cWe\u2019re not in a terrible position right now. We know how the guys can play.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been through many of these moments in the past where we\u2019ve lost tough matches. We came back and we\u2019ve won ties. It\u2019s part of Davis Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also on Saturday, a ceremony will be held to honour Vasek Pospisil, the Vernon, B.C., tennis veteran who recently announced his retirement.<\/p>\n
If the Canadians win this weekend they are guaranteed to host the next tie in a venue yet to be confirmed.<\/p>\n
Last year Canada lost to Hungary in the 2025 Qualifiers first round at IGA Stadium in Montreal.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n
Jim Morris, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VANCOUVER \u2014 He expected a dogfight, but Gabriel Diallo didn\u2019t think he would be the one bitten. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-459787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}