Canadian Branstine upsets top seed at Libema Open, Diallo also moves on

‘S-HERTOGENBOSCH — Carson Branstine upset women’s top seed Liudmila Samsonova while fellow Canadian Gabriel Diallo downed men’s eighth seed Jordan Thompson on Wednesday at the Libema Open grass-court tennis tournament.

Branstine, ranked No. 231 in the world and playing in her first WTA Tour-level main draw, completed the 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 victory with a dominant third set after the match was suspended Tuesday night due to darkness with the players tied at a set each.

Branstine didn’t face a break point in the final set while breaking Russia’s Samsonova, ranked 18th in the world, twice in four chances.

The 24-year-old Canadian qualifier is set to face Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse in second-round action on Thursday.

Montreal’s Diallo came back from a set down to beat Australia’s Thompson 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 and advance to the men’s quarterfinals.

Diallo, ranked 55th on the ATP Tour, had 11 aces and was broken just once on 10 chances as he picked up his second career win on grass. He converted three of the seven break chances he had against Thompson, who is ranked 37th in the world.

Diallo will next face third seed Karen Khachanov of Russia, who needed a third-set tiebreaker to get past American qualifier Mackenzie McDonald on Wednesday.

In women’s doubles quarterfinal action, Branstine and Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., lost 7-5, 6-3 to the second-seeded team of Hungary’s Fanny Stollar and Russia’s Irina Khromacheva. Andreescu is still alive in the singles tournament and will face seventh seed Lulu Sun of New Zealand in the second round on Thursday.

Branstine was born in Irvine, Calif., to an American father and a Canadian mother. She represented the United States at the youth level until switching to Canada in 2017.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.