Victoria Mboko, Canadian wild card, dominates Coco Gauff in straight sets in Montreal

Victoria Mboko, world No. 85 and a wild card at the Canadian Open, secured the biggest win of her career Saturday night, trouncing two-time Grand Slam champion Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 in Montreal. This time last year, Mboko was ranked outside the top 300. Now, the 18-year-old Canadian is into the quarterfinals of her home tournament, dominating the world No. 2 and top seed in one hour and two minutes.

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“Coming into this match, I was so locked in,” Mboko said in her post-match interview. “I tried to keep my composure as much as I could playing in front of so many people. A very special experience for me.”

Gauff started the match flat after struggling for form in her opening matches. Immediately, Mboko broke and consolidated to take an early 2-0 lead. Mboko attacked Gauff’s forehand relentlessly, putting pressure on the American’s weaker groundstroke from the jump. Serving 2-1 and facing a Gauff break point, Mboko served to her forehand, which the American dumped into the net.

As the set progressed, Gauff struggled to land a serve in and hit a clean groundstroke. The No. 1 seed in Canada hit 50 percent of her first serves in the opening sets and tallied three double faults. Trailing 5-1, one of Gauff’s second serves didn’t make it halfway up the net. Mboko looked calm, not succumbing to the pressure of facing a top player.

She raced to a 6-1 first set win in 25 minutes, lighting up the boisterous crowd that included UFC icon Georges St-Pierre.

The Gauff mistakes continued in the second set. Most notable at 3-3, the American finally had an opening where she had three break-point opportunities. Instead of capitalizing, Gauff hit a slice and forehand into the net. On the third break point chance, facing Mboko’s second serve, Gauff overhit her backhand, sailing long.

Mboko seized on Gauff’s mistakes to hold serve. She didn’t feel pressure when facing the break points and looked over to her team for encouragement.

“They were just giving me ease and comforting me while I was on court,” Mboko said. “I just wanted to stay as solid as possible and play fearless tennis.”

“I haven’t played the best this tournament, so I knew that it would be tough,” Gauff said. “I just felt like I could do better today, but I also knew that if I took my foot off the gas a little bit, that she would take advantage of those moments, and she did.”

Gauff’s exit at the Canadian Open followed two three-set match wins in which Double faults behind her serve and errors from the ground had defined her short stay in the Montreal draw. In her first match, Gauff won 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(2) over fellow American Danielle Collins despite tossing 23 double faults. Her next match, a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Veronika Kudermetova, saw Gauff commit 14 double faults and 53 unforced errors.

Pressure? What pressure 🧊 Victoria Mboko reaches her first ever WTA 1000 quarterfinal after taking out the top seed Gauff 6-1, 6-4.#OBN25 pic.twitter.com/S3X8ttdadw — wta (@WTA) August 3, 2025

Against Mboko, Gauff had six double faults and 23 unforced errors. The American admitted that she didn’t have the best rhythm in the tournament, despite focusing on practice after not playing the Citi Open.

“Maybe it was better to get more matches under my belt,” Gauff said. “It’s the first tournament on the hard court season, so I’m hoping that in Cincy and in New York I can find that rhythm.”

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Mboko, born in Charlotte, North Carolina before relocating to Toronto as a child, gained prominence in juniors when she made two Grand Slam junior doubles finals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. In January and February of 2025, Mboko won four ITF titles, securing 22 consecutive match victories without dropping a set. She made her WTA Tour singles main draw debut at this year’s Miami Open, earning her first match victory against Camila Osorio in the first round.

Mboko faced Gauff at the Italian Open, losing a tight three setter 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. At the Canadian Open, Mboko flipped the script, becoming the first Canadian to reach the quarterfinals of their home tournament since Bianca Andreescu.

Mboko grew up watching the Canadian Open at Sobeys Stadium in Toronto. Now, her dream run continues in Montreal, after wins over 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, world No. 39 Marie Bouzkova and now Gauff.

The Canadian will face Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the quarterfinals on Monday. With Saturday’s win, Mboko is projected to be 55th in the WTA rankings.

(Photo: David Kirouac / Imagn Images)

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