Staff Reporter.
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko advanced to her first career WTA Tour semifinal with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Spain’s Jessica’s Bouzas Maneiro on Monday night at the National Bank Open.
Two days after outsting No.1 seed Coco Gauff in just 62 minutes, there was no letdown for the 18-year-old from Toronto
She will face 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, the ninth seed, in her first WTA 1000-level semi-final.
“I’m so excited to be in the semi-final here,” Mboko, who is ranked 85th, said in her on-court interview.
“My first time playing in Montreal has been an unreal experience and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
Mboko started the year ranked 333rd in the world, and is set to move into the top 50 when the rankings are updated next week.
After opening the season with a 22-match winning streak in which she captured five titles on the lower-tier ITF Tour, she made her WTA Tour debut in March.
In her first Grand Slam appearance, she impressed by reaching the third round of the French Open before knocking out 25th seed Magdalena Frech in the opening round at Wimbledon a month later.
Mboko becomes the first Canadian to reach the semi-finals of the event since Bianca Andreescu won the tournament in 2019, while she is the youngest woman to make the last four since Belinda Bencic in 2015.
Rybakina, who defeated Mboko in the second round of last month’s Washington Open, advanced to the semi-finals when Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk was forced to retire because of a wrist injury while trailing 6-1 2-1.