Victoria Mboko's enormous talent emerged during the Montreal WTA 1000, which allowed fans around the world to discover the potential of this young star. The 18-year-old Canadian who entered the main draw thanks to a wild card surprised everyone with her level of play and reached the semifinals with full merit. During her amazing run in Canada, she also took away the satisfaction of eliminating Roland Garros champion and world number 2 Coco Gauff.
Mboko has no intention of stopping there and will try to reach the final in front of her fans, but it will not be easy to beat former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, who has much more experience than her at this level.
According to 'OptaAce', Victoria became the third wild card to reach the Canadian Open semifinals in the Open Era after Monica Seles in 1995 and Simona Halep in 2015.
Mboko has enjoyed a breakout tournament
On the latest episode of the 'Tennis Channel Live Podcast', top analyst Jon Wertheim confessed that he was impressed with Mboko's play in this tournament: I think one thing thats been really impressive to me, this is not necessarily a power slugger whos just, you know, belting everyone off the court. But shes had fewer than 10 winners in her last two matches.
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Theyve both been wins because shes just so focused and disciplined and defensive, and this is just a really complete player thoughshesnot even 19 years old yet.
The young Canadian star is also expected to play the Cincinnati WTA 1000, but she herself has revealed that she will have to see how she feels at the end of this tournament before deciding whether or not to go to Ohio.
Meanwhile, her coach Nathalie Tauziat expressed some interesting considerations a few hours before the match between Victoria and Rybakina: I think she believes in herself. I think also she have the power maybe more. She have a very good serve. Not a lot of players have a good serve. She like to learn. She like to improve. So I think its important.
