Coming into the 2025 grass season, Gabriel Diallo was looking for his first match win in an ATP Tour main draw on the surface. He left the Netherlands with a lot more.
He picked up that first match win in round one and then kept winning. He ended up scoring his first five tour-level grass match wins, the last of which earned him his maiden ATP Tour title.
Here’s what you need to know.
In Case you Missed It: Grass-Court Gabriel Has Entered the Chat
Grass was a relatively unknown commodity for Gabriel Diallo heading into the Libema Open in s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands last week, at least at the tour-level. The 23-year-old was 0-2 in his career on the ATP Tour on the surface (not including ITF and Challenger events).
His round one win over Aleksandar Vukic was his first tour-level victory on the surface. He backed it up with a gritty win over sixth seed Jordan Thompson in three sets to advance to the quarter-finals. The opening set of that match ended up being the only set Diallo lost all week.
In the last eight, he met his nemesis, third seed Karen Khachanov. The veteran led their head-to-head 3-0 including a win in the Canadian’s lone ATP Tour final last fall in Kazakhstan, but this time Diallo had the answers, scoring his first victory in the rivalry in straight sets to reach the semifinals.
There, he took down another top seed, No. 2 Ugo Humbert, in straight sets to reach his second career ATP Tour final. He finished the job, beating Zizou Bergs in straight sets to win his first tour-level title.
The win in s-Hertogenbosch propelled Diallo into the Top 50 of the ATP rankings for the first time this week. He is up to a career-high No. 44 in the world. His win on grass is also the first singles title by a Canadian man on the surface since 1993.
It was a fairly solid opening week of the grass court season for the Canadians overall.
Félix Auger-Aliassime seemed glad to be away from the clay and got to the semifinals of his first grass tournament in Stuttgart. He picked up wins over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Justin Engel in straight sets before falling in the final four to second seed and eventual champion Taylor Fritz. The round-two win over Meptshi Perricard was Auger-Aliassime's first on grass since 2022.
Bianca Andreescu was unable to back-up her runner-up finished in s-Hertogenbosch from 2024 but she still put in a solid performance, reaching the quarter-finals where she lost to Elena Gabriela Ruse in straight sets. Andreescu had upset seventh seed Lulu Sun in the second round.
Ruse was the Canadian slayer on the women’s side at the Libema Open. She took out Carson Branstine in the second round. Just getting to round two was a huge accomplishment for Branstine, who came through qualifying and upset the top seed and defending champion Liudmila Samsonova in the first round.
The two Canadian women were playing doubles together but lost in the quarter-finals to second seeds Irina Khromacheva and Fanny Stollar.
Leylah Annie Fernandez and Denis Shapovalov both played their first grass events of the year last week but lost their opening matches in London and Stuttgart respectively.
What to Watch: Another Full Slate on the Lawns
Gabriel Diallo will look to keep the good times going this week as the intensity ramps up with the ATP 500 events on the schedule. The Canadian is competing at the Queen’s Club in London, where he will open against a local wildcard Billy Harris.
Fifth seed Alex de Minaur is Diallo’s projected second-round opponent, with No. 3 Taylor Fritz potentially looming in the quarter-finals.
Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov are both staying on the continent and are competing in Halle, Germany.
Shapovalov has a tricky draw, opening against No. 6 seed Ugo Humbert in the first round. He could face rising star Joao Fonseca in the second round if the Brazilian beats Flavio Cobolli. Shapovalov is in the bottom quarter with second seed Alexander Zverev.
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Auger-Aliassime opens against qualifier Laslo Djere in the first round and will meet one of Diallo’s s-Hertogenbosch victims, Zizou Bergs or eighth seed Karen Khachanov, in the second round. His projected quarter-final opponent is fourth seed Andrey Rublev.
The two Canadians are also teaming up in doubles in Halle and won their first-round match on Monday against the local pair of Max Schoenhaus and Jan-Lennard Struff.
Bianca Andreescu faces a potential gauntlet at the WTA 500 event in Berlin. She opens against Amanda Anisimova and could face world No. 31 Magdalena Frech, who upset Mirra Andreeva in the first round, in round two. Potential quarter-final opponents include world No. 3 Jessica Pegula, Naomi Osaka, and Liudmila Samsonova.
Leylah Annie Fernandez is competing at the WTA 250 in Nottingham and got her first win of the grass swing on Monday, beating Suzan Lamens in three sets. Fernandez is seeded fifth and will meet either Yuliia Starodubtseva or Cristina Busca in the second round. Her quarter-final opponent would be either Antonia Ruzic or Dayana Yastremska.
Under the Radar: Courchesne Joins the Breakout Brigade
Gabriel Diallo was not the only Canadian having a breakthrough last week. On the ITF wheelchair tour, Shawn Courchesne not only won his first career ITF title, but his first two at a pair of events in Setubal, Portugal.
The first of the two events for the quad singles was a five-player round robin. Courchesne won all four of his matches, three of them in straight sets, to finish atop the group. In his three straight-set wins, Courchesne lost a mere two games total. The de facto final, the round-robin match that ultimately decided the group, was a three-set win for the Canadian over top seed Justin Michel.
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The second event was a knockout draw. Courchesne again beat the top seed, this time Marcus Laudan of Germany, in three sets in the semifinals before defeating Michel for a second time, this time in straight sets in the official final, to score a second trophy.
Rebecca Marino came close to defending her title in Ilkley, reaching the final of the WTA 125 event (it was an ITF W100 when the Canadian won it in 2024), but was defeated by Iva Jovic. Marino had upset top seed Alexandra Eala in the quarter-finals.
Dasha Plekhanova was also a runner-up last week, reaching the final of the ITF W35 event in Decatur, Illinois. She lost to seventh seed Fiona Crawley in straight sets.
You can follow the Canadians in action every week here.
Feature Photo: Libéma Open/Edwin Verhoef
