Montreal (AFP) – Canadian wild card Victoria Mboko saved a match point on the way to a thrilling 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) victory over former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina on Wednesday to reach the final of the WTA Canadian Open. The 18-year-old fed off the energy of the crowd, crediting ecstatic supporters with carrying her through after a tumble left her with a sore right wrist in the third set of her first tour-level semi-final.
Mboko, who ousted top-seeded French Open champion Coco Gauff in the fourth round, didn’t let it stop her. After going down an early break in the third set, she refused to go quietly, loading up on her forehand and fending off a match point as she broke Rybakina in the 10th game to level the set. A couple of untimely double faults helped ninth-seeded Rybakina break back for a 6-5 lead, but the ninth seed from Kazakhstan was broken at love in the next game, setting the stage for a gritty tiebreaker.
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“Anything can happen,” an exhausted Mboko beamed as the crowd’s cheers rained down on her. “Unfortunately I fell, but I had everyone supporting me and pushing me.”
Mboko, playing in just her third 1000-level event, will play the winner of the second semi-final between four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka of Japan and Denmark’s Clara Tauson. Osaka, still seeking to find consistency since returning from maternity leave in 2024, arrived in Montreal ranked 49th in the world. She’ll face a tough challenge in Tauson, who reached the semi-finals with wins over Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek and Australian Open winner Madison Keys.
© 2024 AFP
