Victoria Mboko reaches semis to continue Canadian Open fairytale

Victoria Mboko’s darling run at the Canadian Open continued as the 18-year-old wild card reached her first WTA-level semi-final with a straight sets win over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on Monday (5 August).

In her home tennis tournament in Montreal, Mboko - who started the year ranked 333rd - won 6-4, 6-2 to become the youngest female semi-finalist at the Canadian Open in 10 years.

She will face former Wimbledon champion and ninth seed Elena Rybakina for a spot in the final. Rybakina advanced to the last four after her opponent Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine retired in the second set.

In the previous round, Mboko giant-slayed world No. 2 and top seed Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 for the biggest victory of her burgeoning career, progressing to her first tour quarter-final.

And Mboko was not to be deterred by Bouzas Maneiro on Monday, when she swept past the Spaniard in 1 hour, 17 minutes while converting five of nine break points.

After a fairly even first set, Bouzas Maneiro jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second but Mboko roared back with authority, rattling off six straight games to book her spot in the semis.

Mboko will be looking for a little payback against Rybakina. Last week at the Citi Open in Washington, DC, Rybakina got the better of Mboko 6-3, 7-5 in the round of 16.

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