Diallo delivers strong start, win for Canada after late entry into Madrid Open main draw

Montreal's Gabriel Diallo made the most of a last-minute spot in the Madrid Open, beating Belgium's Zizou Bergs 6-1, 6-2 in the opening round on Thursday in Spain.

Diallo entered the main draw as a replacement for Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka, who withdrew before the tournament.

Diallo didn't face a break point and won 86 per cent of his first-serve points. He converted all four of his break chances and won 19 points on return.

It was a strong response after falling to Croatia's Borna Coric 6-3, 7-6 (6) in the final round of qualifying on Wednesday.

Diallo will next face fellow lucky loser Kamil Majchrzak, who replaced two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz after the second-seeded Spaniard withdrew Thursday with a muscle injury.

Later Thursday, 25th-seeded Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., was scheduled to face Ann Li of the United States.

Home-crowd favourite Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from the Madrid Open on Thursday because of muscle injuries, saying he didn't want to risk making things worse before the French Open.

The third-ranked Spaniard blamed his injuries on the "really tight" schedule that is part of the "demanding sport" of tennis.

Alcaraz said he did "everything possible to play" but had to make the "tough decision" to withdraw after listening to his body and talking to doctors.

"Madrid is one of the special tournaments for me, it's a tournament that I enjoy, I get to play in front of my fans, it's one of the first tournaments I attended when I was a kid," he said.

Field Level Media reported Alcaraz is hampered by a groin injury.

Ranked No. 3 in the world, he underwent tests to determine the severity of hamstring and groin injuries incurred in the second set of the Barcelona Open final on Sunday. The ATP Tour classified