How Victoria Mboko followed in two former world No 1 players’ footsteps at the Canadian Open
Victoria Mboko has become only the third wildcard to reach the semi-final of the Canadian Open in the Open Era while she has also created a piece of Canadian history for the event in Montreal.
The 18-year-old only made her WTA 1000 debut at the Miami Open in March and now she finds herself two wins away from a maiden WTA Tour singles title.
The Canadian received a wildcard entry for her National Bank Open campaign on home soil at the IGA Stadium in Montreal with the venue alternating with Toronto every year.
Mboko kicked off her campaign with a two-set win over Kimberley Birrell and she followed it up with the major scalp of 23rd seed and 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, dropping only five games during the straight-set victory.
The teenager then dropped her first set of the tournament as Marie Bouzkova won the opener, but she stormed back to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 before the biggest upset of them all as she stunned top seed and two-time Grand Slam winner Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4.
But there was no drop off in the quarter-final as she defeated Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-4, 6-2 to reach the last eight.
From Seles To Halep To Mboko
With the win, Mboko became only the third player after Monica Seles and Simona Halep to reach the semi-final of the Canadian Open as a wildcard since the Open Era started in 1968.
Seles was the first to achieve it in 1995 as she was awarded a wildcard for the Canada event as it was her first tournament back on the WTA Tour following the stabbing incident from a deranged Steffi Graf fan in 1993.
The Yugoslav-born American finished runner-up during her debut at the tournament in 1992, but then missed the next two editions before returning in 1995 and she went all the way as she was the joint-top seed with Graf.
Seles beat sixth seed Gabriela Sabatini in the semi-final before a 6-1, 6-0 demolition in the final as she defeated South African Amanda Coetzer to become the first wildcard to win the Canadian Open.
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Twenty years later and Halep became the second wildcard to reach the semi-final and, ultimately, the final.
Then world No 3, Halep accepted a late wildcard to enter the tournament and she ended up reaching the final before retiring with an injury midway during the final set against Belinda Bencic with the score 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (4-7), 3-0 in the Swiss’ favour.
Bencic was 18 years and five months when she won that title and Mboko, incidentally, is 18 years and 11 months, making her the fourth youngest semi-finalist after the Swiss, Ana Ivanisevic (2006) and Serena Williams (2000).
Mboko is also the third Canadian to reach the semi-finals of the Canadian Open in the Open Era after Faye Urban and Bianca Andreescu, but they achieved it when the tournament was staged in Toronto.
Urban finished runner-up in 1968 and then won the title the following year before Andreescu became the second Canadian to win the tournament in the Open Era in 2019.
