The 18-year-old Victoria Mboko achieved her first career WTA Tour Semi-Final with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on Monday evening at the WTA 1000 Omnium Banque National Présenté Par Rogers, on the setting up of a meeting with Elena Rybakina, who rose.
She is a tough opponent. She has really good strokes, and she plays fast, and she really has a good serve. I feel that it was also a bit difficult for us in Washington because it was a night game, and the circumstances were very different. Now we play here, and it’s more consistent, I would say. So she is absolutely dangerous. She has nothing to lose and I am sure she is enjoying it. Yes, it will be a difficult one. Hopefully I can take my best with me. Elena Rybakina
Seven of the top 10 seeds were eliminated prior to the quarterfinals, including all the top 5, with Coco Gauff driven by Mboko, the Canadian Upstart who delights her home -made, two -time defensive champion Jessica Pegula Val Tauson from Denmark.
The left player who is still standing is American Madison Keys, who had to survive 2 match points to beat the 11th placed Karolina Muchova from the Czech Republic on Sunday.
Two days after the expulsion of Gauff in just 62 minutes, there was no disappointment for Mboko, which comes from Toronto, and is the first Canadian to reach the semi-final of the WTA 1000 event since the title run of Bianca Andreescu in 2019.
She is also the youngest woman who has reached the semi -final since the 2015 by Belinda Bencic in Toronto.
In a breakthrough year, Mboko has risen from outside the top 300 to a career-high 85 and is expected to break into the top 50 in the world next week.
After two injuries due to injuries, Mboko, who had shown them as a junior, opened the season with a win of 22 games and captured 5 titles on the lower ITF tour.
She then qualified for her first Grand Slam head table at the French Open and reached the 3rd round before she in the 1st round in Wimbledon a 25th placed Magdalena Frech in Wimbledon.
Jessica Bouzas Maleiro lost a tight first set and broke early in the second, but was then skipped by Victoria Mboko in the last 8 in the Canadian Open on day 9 in Montréal
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In Montréal, Mboko has won more than 79th ranked Kimberly Birrell, no. 23 Seed Sofia Kenin, 39th ranking Marie Bouzkova and Gauff, who is not 2 in the world and was only sent for 62 minutes.
“Of course, to play against Coco, it was a really special experience, and I was really happy that I had won that day,” said Mboko after her last victory. “But at the end of the day I am still in the tournament, so it’s not like I was going to celebrate or something. I was still a bit locked up as if I was normally in a tournament.
“You play a tournament because you want to win it. So I think I just had that kind of mentality.”
Waarded by former Wimbledon -finalist Nathalie Tauziat, Mboko shot an amazing 27 aces in her first 2 victories.
She is now the 4th Canadian woman who reaches the semi-final during a WTA 1000 event and at the ranks Helen Kelesi, Eugenie Bouchard and Andreescu.
On Monday she defeated the big Spaniard, Bouzas Maleiro, in straight sets for a full and joyful home audience in Montréal.
They opened with Scrappy, high -quality tennis, in which the Canadian teenager trusted on a solid first serve, which supplied at 68%, with only a single double errors compared to Bouzas Maneiros 3.
The momentum of the set certainly waved in the 8th game after a bit of a malaise from the Spaniard, where Mboko finally assured a critical break to rise by 5-3.
Bouzas Maleiro did not succeed in breaking back immediately and staying in the set, while Mboko closed the door in the next game, to take it, 6-4, after 44 debilitating minutes.
After she had dropped her serve to open the second, Mboko looked rattled for a moment, but the Canadian Wildcard quickly regrunged itself and delivered her most dominant piece of the tournament to date.
With Bouzas Maleiro Leiden, 2-0, Mboko rattled 6 consecutive games to take the set, 6-2 and to book her place in the biggest semi-final of her young career.
Upon return, Mboko crushed the second Serve of Bouzas Maleiro and won no less than 92%, 11 of 12 of those points.
That pressure translated into 3 service venture from 3 chances, a clinical conversion that the Spaniard did not leave any room to recover.
Mboko has also clocked 2 aces in the set, which showed growing trust and aggression behind her serve and the set closed in just 34 minutes.
Her last victory increases the record from Mboko to 25-8 against higher ranked players and 51-9 in all competitions this season.
Elena Rybakina was on his way to a victory at Marta Kostyuk in the quarterfinals, when the 24th seed retired on Monday afternoon with a wrist injury
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Mboko will face Kazakhstan’s Rybakina, the 9th seed, that Kostyuk, the no. 24 Seed, 6-1, 2-1, led earlier in the day and reached her second semifinal in Montréal when the Ukrainian retired after just 54 minutes with a wrist injury.
It marked the 3rd consecutive victory of Rybakina on the Ukrainian, after he had tried in the US Open, Stuttgart 2024 and Montreal 2025 in 2023, after losing their first meeting in 2023 Adelaide.
The Kazakh converted 3 of her 10 breaking point opportunities in the quarterfinals Matchup in Iga Stadium.
After the 3rd game, Kostyu’s forearm was wrapped in medical tape, but the Ukrainian could not continue and after shaking hands she left the court in tears.
This is Rybakina’s 10th WTA 1000-level semi-final and its 5th last 4L performance of the season, the 3rd most on tour, behind Sabalenka, with 9 and Swiatek, at 7.
It was a tearful Marta Kostyuk who left the court after he withdrew against Elena Rybakina due to an injury in Montréal
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The semi-final between Mboko and Rybakina will be their 2nd meeting in as many weeks, with the Kazakh De Canadian, 6-3 7-5, in the Citi Open in Washington last week.
“I don’t feel fresh, but I don’t feel so tired,” said Mboko prior to her next challenge. “I think it helps we have a day between every day to regroup a little and collect myself.
“Every day I just did what I had to do to recover well. Most days have been the night game, so I have a lot of time in the day to do naps and do what I have to do to prepare for the night.”
Although it is barely 2 weeks since their Washington meeting, Rybakina is wary of the match-up, which is another scenario for the last time, despite the 9th seed the favorite.
“She is a tough opponent. She has really good success, and she plays quickly, and she has really good serve,” said the 2022 Wimbledon champion about the 18-year-old emerging Canadian Canadian “I feel, in Washington, it was also a bit difficult for both of us because it was a night game, and the circumstances were very different.
“Now we play here, and it is more consistent, I would say. So she is absolutely dangerous. She has nothing to lose, and I am sure she enjoys there. Yes, it will be a difficult one. Hopefully I can take my best with me.”
In the remaining quarterfinals that will be played on Tuesday, the Australian open champion Madison Keys, the remaining player with the highest placed, meets no. 16 Clara Tauson and 4-way Grand Slam champion and former World No 1 Naomi Osaka meets 10th placed Elina Svitolina.
The Montreal finale will be played on Thursday.
Victoria Mboko has the home fans behind her at the WTA 1000 National Bank Open in Iga Stadium in Montréal
© Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
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