Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko advanced to her first career WTA Tour semi-final with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on Monday night at the National Bank Open.
Two days after ousting No. 1 seed Coco Gauff in just 62 minutes, there was no letdown for the 18-year-old from Toronto.
After taking a back-and-forth — and error-filled — first set, Mboko was broken in a sluggish start to the second set, but broke back in the fourth and sixth games to take a 4-2 advantage.
Photo: AP
Mboko is the first Canadian to reach the WTA 1000 event’s semi-finals since Bianca Andreescu’s title run in 2019. She is also the youngest woman to reach the semis since Belinda Bencic’s 2015 win in Toronto.
Mboko is to face Elena Rybakina, who led Marta Kostyuk 6-1, 2-1 when the Ukrainian was forced to stop playing because of an apparent arm injury.
Rybakina, the No. 9 seed from Kazakhstan, converted three of her 10 break-point chances in the quarterfinal matchup at IGA Stadium in Montreal, Quebec. The players shook hands at the 54-minute mark before the 24th-seeded Kostyuk exited the court in tears.
Photo: AFP
After the third game, Kostyu’s trainers wrapped her forearm in medical tape.
In a breakthrough year, Mboko has surged from outside the top 300 to a career-high No. 85. That number is projected to climb to at least No. 55, according to WTA live rankings.
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-seeded 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, No. 23 seed Sofia Kenin, 39th-ranked Marie Bouzkova and Gauff, who is ranked No. 2.
Her latest victory boosted her record to 25-8 against higher-ranked players and 51-9 in all competitions.
The tournament final is tomorrow.
Home runs are greeted with a celebratory shot of espresso and the donning of an Armani jacket. Victories are marked with bottles of red wine while the soaring voice of opera singer Andrea Bocelli echoes through the locker room. Welcome to baseball, Italian-style. Written off as 80-1 underdogs before the World Baseball Classic started, Italy’s fairytale tournament has carried them all the way to today’s (Taipei time) semi-finals in Miami against Venezuela. On Saturday, Italy — who scored a stunning upset of a star-studded US lineup during the pool phase — kept their unbeaten campaign alive with a nail-biting 8-6
Jannik Sinner on Sunday beat Daniil Medvedev in the Indian Wells final 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4), winning seven straight points to rally from a 4-0 deficit in the second-set tiebreak and claim the title without dropping a single set. The No. 2-ranked Italian beat Medvedev for the ninth time in their last 10 matches to claim his first title at the California desert tournament. Medvedev handed top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz his first loss of the year in the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open. Sinner congratulated fellow Italian Kimi Antonelli, who won Formula One’s Chinese Grand Prix earlier on Sunday. “It
Luka Doncic on Monday scored 36 points as the in-form Los Angeles Lakers powered to their sixth straight victory with a 100-92 defeat of the Houston Rockets. A crucial showdown between the third and fourth-ranked NBA Western Conference teams ended with the Lakers pulling away in the final minute of the fourth quarter to claim an impressive win on the road. The victory gives the Lakers (43-25) a valuable cushion over the Rockets (41-26) as they jostle for post-season positions in the West. Doncic was once again instrumental in dragging the Lakers over the line while a hard-nosed defensive effort
THRILLING GAME: The loaded US roster featuring Paul Skenes, Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge reached their third straight WBC final game, after 2017 and 2023 Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony on Sunday homered, and the US limited the Dominican Republic’s electric offense to win a thrilling semi-final 2-1 and move one win from capturing their second World Baseball Classic (WBC) championship. The loaded US roster led by NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes and featuring stars Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge reached their third straight WBC title game after winning in 2017 and falling to Shohei Ohtani and Japan in 2023. The US are to face the winner of this morning’s (Taiwan time) semi-final between Italy and Venezuela a day later. The Dominicans reached
RSS