diallo (1)

Gabriel Diallo started strong, but he was no match for the third-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany in the opening round of men’s singles at the Australian Open on Sunday.

The Montreal player won the first set in the best-of-five 7-6, but was bounced 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in the next three in a match that took two hours, 51 minutes to play.

Zverev finished with 15 aces and only one double fault. He won 84 per cent of his first serve points and 56 per cent of his second serve points.

Diallo had 10 aces and five double faults, but only won one of two break points while Zverev won six of eight.

The German ace also won 38 per cent of his points off returns, while Diallo only won 23 per cent.

Zverev won 18 of 19 service games, while Diallo won 12 of 18.

Zverev will play the winner of a match between Alexei Popyrin of Australia and Alexandre Muller of France.