Victoria wins! 18-year-old Mboko shocks Rybakina to reach the Montreal final – now tennis
Chris Oddo | Wednesday, August 6, 2025
The Grand Slam champion kept getting up and facing the teenager sensation in Montreal, and the kids kept knocking them down.
Mboko defeated a former main champion for the third time in six games at Omnium Banque Nationale as she reached the WTA final for the Virgin with a 1-6 7-5 7-6 (4).
“It’s an incredible game,” Mboko also defeated Sofia Kenin and Coco Goff on his way to the finals. “I want to thank everyone who supports me tonight. It’s electric and I’m so glad – Oh my god!”
Mboko fought in two hours and 45 minutes, fought back from a game, saved match points in the final and won the No. 9 seed in the final, defeated twice in the final and won the final three to lock in the finals of Clara Tauson or Naomi Osaka.
Mboko survived, though he won only 35% of the second score, thanks to a 72% first service percentage and very timely interruption of the game. With precise return, excellent defense and a lot of cunning, she won six breaks for Rybakina as she won 20 straight wins for the second time and became the youngest woman since Belinda Bencic in 2015.
She is also the only Canadian woman to beat three former Grand Slam champions in the same match in the Open Age.
“It’s very difficult, Elena is a very good player, but everything will happen,” Mboko said.
Victory is not without adversity.
Mboko fell in the second game of the final game and checked her right wrist after the third game, but she was able to play in pain to win to beat Washington DC last week.
“Unfortunately, I fell,” Mboko said. “But everyone is supporting me and pushing me.”
The outstanding efforts of a young woman, she is in the seventh WTA major draw, and her third place is in the WTA 1000 level.
Mboko is currently ranked 85th in the WTA field rankings. At the start of the season, she was outside the first 300 games but had 41 wins and only eight losses at all levels, which put the top 6 in the world sixth place.
A great royal
It was nervous from start to finish against Rybakina, who dropped from victory to 5-5 in the second set with only two wins. But Mboko won eight points in the final ten of the game to force the decider.
In the third inning, Rybakina was again in the driver’s game, leading 4-2 and 5-3, but she failed to convert a match point in 5-4 and was broken.
After breaking again in the next game, Mboko broke the love and then played a tiebreak.
The Canadian saved her last game’s best thing – it was a winner and a forehand who led 5-4. Two points later, she sank her knee in disbelief, another Grand Slam champion, the victim of a rising primitive, talented phenomenon.
