{"id":52287,"date":"2025-08-07T15:05:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T15:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/52287\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T15:05:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T15:05:12","slug":"mboko-advances-to-nbo-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/52287\/","title":{"rendered":"Mboko advances to NBO Final"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victoria Mboko\u2019s childhood coach Pierre Lamarch reflects on her \u2018tremendous\u2019 forehand and serve that has propelled her to the semi-final of the National Bank Op <\/p>\n

Victoria Mboko\u2019s historic climb has reached new heights.<\/p>\n

The teenage sensation will play in the National Bank Open\u2019s final after pulling off an epic comeback to defeat Elena Rybakina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) on Wednesday, the latest chapter in a coming-out party that has captivated fans across Canada.<\/p>\n

Mboko dropped to the ground after Rybakina\u2019s shot sailed long on match point as an electric sold-out crowd \u2014 lined with \u201cAllez Vicky\u201d signs for Canada\u2019s newest tennis star \u2014 erupted on IGA Stadium\u2019s centre court.<\/p>\n

\"\"Victoria Mboko Victoria Mboko of Canada reacts following her win over Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan during semifinal tennis action at the National Bank Open in Montreal, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Christinne Muschi <\/p>\n

The 18-year-old from Toronto, who was born in Charlotte, N.C., to Congolese parents, saved a match point earlier in the third set and broke the ninth-seeded Rybakina\u2019s serve twice to force the tiebreaker in the two-hour, 46-minute match.<\/p>\n

Mboko also battled through a wrist injury after stumbling awkwardly to the ground in the third set\u2019s second game, needing a medical timeout to wrap it in a bandage.<\/p>\n

She became the fourth Canadian woman to reach a final at the Canadian Open, and the latest since Bianca Andreescu\u2019s title run in 2019.<\/p>\n

The phenom is also the first Canadian player to defeat three former women\u2019s singles Grand Slam champions in a single WTA event in the Open Era.<\/p>\n

She will move up to at least 34th in the world rankings after beginning the year outside the top 300.<\/p>\n

That number could climb even higher after she plays four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka of Japan in Thursday\u2019s final. The unseeded Osaka defeated 16th-seeded Clara Tauson of Denmark 6-2, 7-6 (7) in Wednesday\u2019s late semifinal.<\/p>\n

The rising star now has a 52-9 record in all competitions this year, including 26-8 against higher-ranked players.<\/p>\n

Rybakina, a former world No. 3 and Wimbledon champion from Kazakhstan, was responsible for one of those losses after beating Mboko 6-3, 7-5 in the D.C. Open\u2019s second round on July 23.<\/p>\n

This time, Mboko exacted revenge in stunning fashion.<\/p>\n

\"\"Elena Rybakina, Victoria Mboko Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, left, congratulates Victoria Mboko of Canada on her win during semifinal tennis action at the National Bank Open in Montreal, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Christinne Muschi (Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press) <\/p>\n

After Mboko failed to hold serve once in a difficult opening set, the Canadian re-found her form in the second to force a decisive third.<\/p>\n

Rybakina led 5-4 with a chance to serve for the match. She took a 40-30 advantage with two massive forehand winners to set up match point, but Mboko rallied back to stay alive after her opponent made a series of errors.<\/p>\n

In the ensuing game, Mboko double-faulted, struck a backhand into the net and double-faulted again in succession as Rybakina broke back and took a 6-5 lead in the set.<\/p>\n

But once again, Mboko battled, winning four consecutive points against the hard-hitting Rybakina\u2019s serve to force the tiebreak.<\/p>\n

Once there, Mboko jumped out to a 5-4 lead by cranking a forehand winner down the line, before Rybakina\u2019s backhand sailed wide to set up the unlikely victory.<\/p>\n

And out came a chorus of \u201cOl\u00e9, Ol\u00e9, Ol\u00e9\u201d chants.<\/p>\n

Mboko won despite striking 11 double-faults \u2013 compared to one for Rybakina \u2013 and winning only 35 per cent of her points on second service.<\/p>\n

\"\"Victoria Mboko of Canada reacts following her win over Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan during semifinal tennis action at the National Bank Open in Montreal, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Christinne Muschi Victoria Mboko of Canada reacts following her win over Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan during semifinal tennis action at the National Bank Open in Montreal, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Christinne Muschi <\/p>\n

After two injury-plagued seasons, her rapid rise started with a 22-match \u2013 and 43-set \u2013 unbeaten streak on the lower-tier ITF Tour and continued with a run through qualifying to the French Open\u2019s third round in her first career Grand Slam. Mboko then upset No. 25 seed Magdalena Frech in the first round at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

Her play is hitting another level with upset after upset before a Canadian audience in Montreal, including a dominant 62-minute win in the fourth round over world No. 2 Coco Gauff, a two-time Grand Slam champion.<\/p>\n

Local favourite Eugenie Bouchard \u2013 a 2014 Wimbledon finalist \u2013 headlined the tournament early after announcing she would retire following her hometown event.<\/p>\n

But Mboko quickly stole the spotlight, taking centre court under the bright lights at primetime and attracting fans to each practice as the only Canadian \u2013 man or woman \u2013 to advance past the third round in singles.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victoria Mboko\u2019s childhood coach Pierre Lamarch reflects on her \u2018tremendous\u2019 forehand and serve that has propelled her to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":{"0":"post-52287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}