Tennis roundup: Osaka to face Canadian teen Mboko in Montreal final; Khachanov vs Shelton in Toronto
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and Canadian teen sensation Victoria Mboko booked a championship showdown with gritty semi-final wins on Wednesday in the WTA Canadian Open in Montreal.
Japan's Osaka, chasing her first tour-level title since the 2021 Australian Open, saved a pair of set points in the second-set tiebreak to polish off a 6-2, 7-6 (9/7) victory over Denmark's Clara Tauson -- who was coming off victories over Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek and Australian Open winner Madison Keys.
Mboko saved a match point in a thrilling 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) victory over former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
The 18-year-old wild card fed off the energy of the crowd, crediting ecstatic supporters with carrying her through after a tumble left her with a sore right wrist in the third set of her first tour-level semi-final.
Mboko, who ousted top-seeded French Open champion Coco Gauff in the fourth round, didn't let it stop her.
After going down an early break in the third set she refused to go quietly, loading up on her forehand and fending off a match point as she broke Rybakina in the 10th game to level the set.
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A couple of untimely double faults helped ninth-seeded Rybakina break back for a 6-5 lead, but the ninth seed from Kazakhstan was broken to love in the next game, setting the stage for the tiebreak drama.
"
After I had that fall I wasn't in the greatest spirits, but I'm happy that I kept my composure and I was kind of patient in the right moments," said Mboko, who won the last three points of a decider she called "stressful".
"Anything can happen," an exhausted Mboko beamed as the crowd's cheers rained down on her.
"Unfortunately I fell, but I had everyone supporting me and pushing me."
Mboko started the season ranked outside the top 300 but had worked her way up to 85th coming into the week by grinding away in lower-level tournaments.
She is assured of breaking into the top 40 no matter the result against Osaka, a former world number one who has struggled to find consistency since returning from maternity leave in 2024 after more than a year away.
Resurgent Osaka
Osaka has looked re-energized this week after a coaching shakeup and rolled through the first set against Tauson.
But Tauson twice regained a break in the second set as she pushed it to the tiebreaker where she had chances to level the match after taking a 6-4 lead.
Unable to convert her set points, the Dane saved one match point to make it 7-7, but Osaka won the next two to seal the victory and reach her first final in a WTA 1000 level event since Miami in 2022.
"Definitely really happy," said Osaka, who started the week ranked 49th in the world. "(I'm) excited to play my first hard court final back."
Osaka, whose performance so far this week means she's assured of rising high enough in the rankings to be seeded at the US Open later this month, was bracing for a tough match against a player who said in a youthful interview that she idolised the Japanese star.
"I watched her play today because they were the match in front of us.
I thought it was really impressive how she stayed calm," said Osaka, adding that Mboko's rebound from match point down was "really impressive for an 18-year-old."
Khachanov
topples Zverev to book ATP Toronto title clash with
Shelton
Karen Khachanov of Russia celebrates on his way to defeating Alex Michelsen of the United States, during their quarterfinal match at the National Bank Open men's tennis tournament in Toronto, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto:
Karen Khachanov rallied to defeat top seed Alexander Zverev and book an ATP Toronto Masters title clash with Ben Shelton, who beat second seeded Taylor Fritz on Wednesday.
Khachanov fought back from 3-1 down in the final-set tiebreaker to beat Zverev 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4).
Shelton, seeded fourth, hammered Fritz 6-4, 6-3 in the first All-American Masters 1000 semifinal in 15 years to book the fifth, and most important, ATP final of his career.
Russia's Khachanov, seeded 11th, had lost two previous semi-finals in Canada. But he dug deep to advance, saving a match point as he levelled the deciding set at 6-6, with world number three Zverev hammering a backhand into the top tape of the net.
The German committed 44 unforced errors in the nearly three-hour defeat while Khachanov had 29 winners and 34 uforced errors.
"I had to work out this match, dig deep and try my best," Khachanov said. "It was very demanding physically and mentally.
"We've had a lot of matches and I'm happy to beat him after losing some easy ones," addd Khachanov, who fell to Zverev in the Tokyo Olympic singles final. "Today was a tough one - I was match point down.
"I'm just happy things went on my side at the end."
Khachanov said it got tense at the end.
"When you reach the final tiebreak, you have to play your best.
You can't waste time and energy with negative thoughts or you won't succeed. You never know what will happen but you have to give it a try."
Khachanov will be playing his first final of the season after semi-final defeats in Barcelona and Halle.
Shelton and Fritz had to wait out a brief delay when a problem with the electronic line calling system emerged as they took the court.
But that was barely a blip for 22-year-old Shelton, the world number seven, who had beaten Alex de Minaur in the quarter-finals and with the win over Fritz notched his first back-to-back victories over top 10 opponents.
US Open finalist Fritz had to save four break points in the third game of the match and was broken in the ninth game to leave Shelton to serve for the set.
Shelton seized a second break for a 3-2 lead in the second, landing a perfect lob over Fritz's head and held at love for a 5-3 lead.
He closed out the masterclass in with another break, Fritz mangling his racquet over his knee after he double faulted on match point.
"I'm happy with my level and how I executed," Shelton said. "I've seen so many big improvements in my game this week. That's what I'm most happy about, how I'm executing, how little I'm hesitating, how I'm returning.
"Beating two top 10 guys back-to-back is huge for me.
"I felt I had the ball on a string," he added. "I'm excited to play like this, hitting the ball and expecting it to go in."
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