Victoria Mboko’s dream run continues in Montreal! The 18-year-old Canadian had previously stunned everyone by defeating the two-time Grand Slam winner, Coco Gauff, in the R16 of the Canadian Open. Following her first Top 10 win of her life, the youngster was seen in complete disbelief, covering her face with her hands before going towards the net to hug the world number 2. After securing one of the biggest wins in her career, Mboko described beating Gauff as “a special experience.” But having said that, she also made it clear that she has no intentions of taking her foot off the gas pedal!

“You play a tournament because you want to win it,” said the Canadian. Following that impressive victory against Coco Gauff, she secured a spot in the SF of this tournament by defeating Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the QF by 6-4,6-2. Reaching her first-ever WTA 1000 SF at the age of 18 in her home tournament was extremely special for this teenager. But that’s not all! She has now also defeated the 2022 Wimbledon champion, Elena Rybakina, in the SF match by 1-6,7-5,7-6(4). This was her third victory over a Grand Slam winner (after beating Sofia Kenin and Coco Gauff in previous rounds) in this tournament. Mboko is the first Canadian to do this in a single WTA event in the Open Era. Sky is the limit for this teenager!

Victoria Mboko was ranked outside of the top 300 at the start of this year, and now she has reached the final of a WTA 1000 event for the very first time in her career. Reacting to her incredible triumph over Rybakina, Coco Gauff’s ex-coach, Brad Gilbert shared a tweet saying, “What a great effort from Mboko taking out Ryba and the crowd was absolutely 💯 rocking, she definitely 👍 is need of a nickname.” With this victory, Mboko has now become the youngest Canadian woman in the Open Era to reach the final of the Canadian Open.

Victoria Mboko saved a match point in the third set and broke Elena Rybakina twice to force the tiebreaker in this epic battle. She’s now looking forward to becoming the first local champion since Bianca Andreescu (in 2019). What was her reaction after the match, though?

Victoria Mboko thanks the crowd for their incredible support

This was her second meeting with Elena Rybakina, and guess what? Despite losing the first set, Mboko never really looked out of the contest in this match. Her incredible resilience and hunger to do well against the top players yet again reflected in this match. After securing the match point, Victoria Mboko dropped to the court, and chants of “Allez Vicky” erupted across the stadium.

During her post-match interview, Victoria Mboko addressed the crowd in French, saying, “Incredible match, thank you to everyone for supporting me. It was really difficult, but anything can happen.“

It seems Mboko has now made drawing appreciations from her opponents a habit! After her R16 match, Coco Gauff was to speak about the comparisons that have been made recently between her and Victoria Mboko. Addressing all of that, Gauff refrained from paying heed to those comparisons, claiming Mboko is a different player and a completely different person. However, she didn’t forget to heap praise on the teenager, saying she has a bright future.

“I mean, she’s very athletic. She’s a great ball striker, and she seems pretty positive out there on the court, doesn’t get really too negative,” said Gauff. She hopes to face her more in the near future. Just like Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina recently showered praise on Victoria Mboko for her brilliance in the SF match. She hailed her as a “tough opponent” and went on to add, “I think that she served really well in

these important moments…Overall, I think it was a very close match, like big fight. So it could go any way, but went hers. I think she played also really well.“

With this win, Victoria Mboko has now taken her H2H record to 1-1 against Rybakina. She’ll now be facing the four-time Grand Slam champion, Naomi Osaka, in the final. Can Mboko secure yet another victory against a Grand Slam winner in this tournament?