Canada's Victoria Mboko advances to NBO semifinals in Montreal
Two days after dispatching No. 1 seed Coco Gauff, the Canadian teenage tennis sensation booked her place in the National Bank Open semifinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in women's singles action Monday night.
Mboko upset Gauff in straight sets Saturday, winning the lopsided match in just 62 minutes.
There was no letdown Monday, even if Mboko fought a little harder to pull out the victory.
After taking a back-and-forth — and error-filled — first set, Mboko lost on serve in a sluggish start to the second set but broke back in the fourth and sixth games to take a 4-2 advantage.
The 18-year-old from Toronto held serve and broke once more, with Bouzas Maneiro's backhand sailing long on match point to lift the fans out of their seats after 77 minutes.
Mboko is the first Canadian to reach the WTA 1000 event's semifinals since Bianca Andreescu's title run in 2019. She's also the youngest woman to reach the semis since Belinda Bencic's 2015 win in Toronto.
Bouzas Maneiro, ranked 51st, was also playing in the quarterfinals of a 1000-level tournament for the first time.
In a breakthrough year, Mboko has surged from outside the top 300 to a career-high No. 85 in the world rankings. That number is projected to climb to at least No. 55, according to WTA live rankings.
The last Canadian remaining in singles, Mboko has made a name for herself at home, her powerful ball-striking on full display in her first National Bank Open main draw.
She will meet Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina in Wednesday's semifinals. The ninth-seeded Rybakina advanced after Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk was forced to retire with an apparent arm injury while trailing 6-1, 2-1 earlier Monday night.
After two injury-plagued years, Mboko — who had shown promise as a junior — opened the season with a 22-match win streak and captured five titles on the lower-tier ITF Tour.
She then qualified for her first Grand Slam main draw at the French Open, reaching the third round, before stunning 25th seed Magdalena Frech in the first round at Wimbledon.
And the upsets keep coming.
In Montreal, Mboko has rattled off wins over 79th-ranked Kimberly Birrell, 23rd seed Sofia Kenin, 39th-ranked Marie Bouzkova and Gauff, the world No. 2.
Her latest victory boosts her record to 25-8 against higher-ranked players and 51-9 in all competitions.
Buzzing in anticipation, the crowd rose to its feet for loud applause the moment Mboko emerged from the tunnel before the match.
Neither player appeared to be dialled in during the first set, firing shots long and wide and wasting opportunities to break early.
At 2-2, Mboko fell in a 40-15 hole, but ultimately took the prolonged game thanks to five service winners, regularly opening points with 180 km/h strikes.
The Canadian then went up 40-0 with three chances to break before a series of errors — including a few mishits on her backhand — helped Bouzas Maneiro hold.
Mboko retook a 40-0 advantage for three breakpoint opportunities while leading 4-3. This time, Bouzas Maneiro fired her shot into the net.
Bouzas Maneiro broke back after Mboko made three unforced errors and double-faulted.
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