Canadian Steven Diez almost won a second Challenger tournament of his career in Maspalomas, Spain, on Sunday, but lost in the final to Serbian Dusan Lajovic 6-1, 6-4.
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The 31-year-old, who was born in Toronto but grew up in Spain, failed to come through on serve. The 348th racquet in the world actually broke in his first game with balls in hand, which quickly gave his opponent, ranked 103rd in the world, the advantage. In the second set, Diez faltered in his second service game. It broke three times in total.
It was Diez’s fourth appearance in a Challenger tournament final and his first since the Las Palmas tournament in February 2021. His only win came at the tournament in Burnie, Australia in January 2019. He also had his career best a few months later, when he ended up 134th in the ATP rankings.