Who is Victoria Mboko? Canada's newest tennis sensation climbs the ladder at the Canadian Open

Canada’s newest tennis sensation, 18-year-old Victoria Mboko, is continuing to attract attention as she moves into the fourth round of the Canadian Open in Montreal this weekend.  

The last of nine Canadians remaining in the final tournament bracket, Mboko collected her sixth win against a top-50 player, 18-year-old Czech star, Marie Bouzkova, over three sets.  

She will now face first seed, Coco Gauff, an American at 6 p.m. on Saturday .

The two players have squared off before on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour, but only once.   It was during the Italian Open earlier this year and Gauff prevailed. That was on clay. Now, they’ll face off on a hard court.  

“I’m going to kind of go into the match how I usually go into every other match despite the surface,” Mboko told The Tennis Gazette after her victory in the third round. “I’m going to show up with how I play, and I just hope for the best.”  

She expressed excitement over the rematch with Gauff and expects it to be a hard-fought battle.  

Mboko kicked off the Open by besting Australian, Kimberly Birrell, in the first round, serving up 15 aces in the process.  

In round two, she faced Sofia Kenin, an American and a seeded player (a player who is highly ranked and placed strategically in a tournament by the organizers to prevent top players from having to face each other in early rounds).  

Again Mboko prevailed, winning 6-2 and 6-3.  

Against Bouzkova in the third round, Mboko appeared to falter, losing the first set 6-1, but she got her groove back in front of the home crowd and secured a place in the round of 16 (the last round before the quarter-finals).  

Mboko told SportsNet she shifted her mindset after the opening set and sharpened her focus on court mobility.  

“In the second set, I wanted to make sure my movement was at least twice as (good as) it was in the first set, and my concentration as well,” said Mboko. “I feel like I wasn’t really as focused as I wanted to be.”  

Gauff also expects the fourth round against Mboko to be tough.  

“She’s a great player,” Gauff told Sportsnet. “We played on clay, so it will be a different match. Obviously, she’s gotten more experience just being on tour and playing high-level players. It’s going to be a tough match.”  

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Mboko was born an American in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2006. Her family had immigrated there from the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, her parents moved the family to Toronto later that year.  

She now hails from nearby Burlington.  

The youngest of four children, all of her siblings play tennis. One sister and brother played at the college level in the U.S.  

The siblings trained under former Canadian Davis Cup captain Pierre Lamarche. Then Mboko travelled to Belgium where she sharpened her skills at Justine Henin Tennis Academy.  

Mboko’s father Cyprien had the tennis bug originally. Back in the Congo, he and a friend were fans of Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Steffi Graf.  

He told Tennis Canada that the sport was good exercise for his children. “I must have bought about 1,000 balls from Walmart and they all seemed to end up in the bushes.”  

Mboko first found success in junior-level play, making the Under-14 final as a 12-year-old in 2018.   Then she competed in junior Grand Slams, reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2022.  

Mboko has also competed in doubles play, reaching the final at the Australian Open and Wimbledon with her Canadian colleague, Kayla Cross in 2022.  

Though just 18, she has injured her knees, inspiring her to be more vigilant about caring for her body.  

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Earlier this year, Mboko achieved four straight lower-level titles in a 22-match winning streak, not dropping a single set.  

She competed in her first senior-level Grand Slam at the French Open, making the third round. Mboko also won both her matches during her Billie Jean King Cup debut for Canada in April.  

The Canadian Open continues through to the finals on Aug. 7.  

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