Coco Gauff reduced her double fault number against Victoria Mboko but still easily lost her Montreal round-of-16 match after the world No. 85 picked up a 6-1 6-4 win in just an hour and two minutes of play.
Right out the gate, rising Canadian star Mboko wanted to show that she came to play and she did so by impressively breaking the top seed three times in the first set to bag the opener.
After easily dropping the opening set, Gauff stabilized on her serve, but also failed to convert any of her four break points in the seventh game. That came back to haunt the American, who got broken in the 10th game of the second set - the game in which she was serving to stay in the match.
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Through her first two Montreal matches, Gauff fired a total of 37 double faults. Against Mboko, the top seed had six double faults. But the issue was that she won only 12 of her 27 second serve points - saved only one of five break points she faced - all while also not realizing any of her five break points.
In her maiden WTA 1000 quarterfinal, Mboko will play against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
Mboko paid tribute to Gauff after their Montreal match
After sealing the biggest win of her career, the 18-year-old Canadian declared the 21-year-old American "a great champion."
Its incredible. Im so happy to beat such a great champion," the world No. 85 said after beating the two-time Grand Slam winner.
Gauff also spoke highly of the rising Canadian tennis star, tipping her to do some nice things.
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Im sure were going to have many more battles in the future. Yeah, I think shes going to have a lot of success on tour," Gauff said of the 18-year-old.
World No. 51 Bouzas Maneiro is a pretty favorable quarterfinal matchup for Mboko and the home favorite will definitely like her chances of also making the Montreal semifinal.
