By Richard Pagliaro Saturday, February 14, 2026
Photo credit: Muhammad Ali Abdullah/Getty
The ultimate failure did not deter Karolina Muchova Today in Doha.
Past title setbacks have inspired Muchova to soar to the most important title of her life.
Muchova, the 14th seed, won five of her last six games to defuse a red-hot situation Victoria Mboko 6-4, 7-6, winning her first career WTA 1000 title in Doha.
Muchova entered this championship match with a career final record of 1-5, and she showed a dynamic performance throughout the match to win her first championship since the 2019 Seoul 250 title.
“It’s been a while since I won a tournament, so it’s nice to feel the feeling of winning in Doha again,” Muchova said. “This is incredible. Thank you so much.
“I’m very excited. I want to congratulate Victoria. You’re a teenager and you played with great maturity. You played unbelievably. I’m sure you have a lot of titles ahead of you… This is my first 1,000 match win and I’m happy it’s coming to Doha.”
The highly skilled Muchova has dropped just one set in six match wins – a minor setback that came in yesterday’s semi-final victory over Maria Sakkari 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
It was a historic trip to Doha for 19-year-old Mboko, who defeated Grand Slam champions Elena Rybakina and Jelena Ostapenko to reach the Doha final. Mboko broke into the top 10 for the first time, becoming the fourth Canadian woman to achieve the feat, and was poised to push three sets into the match after taking a 4-2 lead in the second.
“It’s awesome,” Mboko said. “I want to thank Carolina and her team. You played well. Hope to play with you more in the future…
“It’s not the result I wanted, but I think there are a lot of positives. Thank you.”
Muchova is much better mobile than both Rybakina and Ostapenko, and she showed it, running low balls, hitting some sharp backhand slices, attacking the net with confidence, and defending resolutely.
Muchova, vying for her biggest title, fell for a third time in the final before stretching her arms to the sky to claim victory in one hour and 34 minutes.
The 29-year-old Czech player found his groove midway through the first set. Muchova scored 8 of the 9 points in one fell swoop, breaking serve at 4-3, and then confirmed the break with a love break at 5-3.
Although Mboko saved a set point at 30-40 to chase the score to 4-5, Muchova was not denied in this set.
Muchova served out of the game and held serve strongly in the 15th game, completing the only break of the set and gaining a set lead.
In the fifth game of the second set, the Czech used his backhand slice to gain three break points. Mboko rose to the challenge, fighting off all three break points, including a smash on the third.
Mboko hit two consecutive ACE balls in a difficult defense to lead 3-2 in the second set.
The energetic Mboko had great momentum and cuffed the Czech with a backhand pass to lead 4-2 after 1 hour and 11 minutes of play.
In the crucial seventh game, Muchova turned the tables with her legs and all-around intelligence. Muchova ran a lob and then backhand volleyed the baseline for a double break point. When Mboko missed a backhand shot near the top of the net, Muchova fought back to tie the score at 3-4.
Muchova served confidently and quickly held serve to tie the score after eight games.
Mboko is an insightful waiter who wastes no time while waiting in line. In the 11th game, the 19-year-old Canadian hit a couple of nice sideline serves, only to see the long-legged Muchova return a forehand for her second break point.
When Mboko broke back with a backhand, Muchova broke for the third time in the final, leading 6-5.
When Mboko hit a backhand, Muchova flew across the line and delivered a love hug to claim her biggest title.
The 2023 French Open runner-up joins Petra Kvitova, Karolina Pliskova and Lucy Safarova as the fourth Czech woman to win the Doha tournament.
