Victoria Mboko explains blockbuster Coco Gauff doubles partnership at Qatar Open
Two of the WTA Tour’s biggest names are set to team up at the Qatar Open this week — with Coco Gauff and Victoria Mboko pairing up for the women’s doubles event.
Two-time Grand Slam singles champion Gauff is no stranger to doubles, with the American lifting the women’s doubles title at the 2024 French Open alongside Katerina Siniakova.
And Mboko is also becoming more and more used to the format, with the rising star playing with fellow teen sensation Iva Jovic at the Australian Open last month.
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Now, the two will pair up at the first WTA 1000 event of the year, competing on the same side of the court after previously doing battle on opposite sides of the net.
Gauff and Mboko first met at the 2025 Italian Open last May, with the American battling back to seal a three-set win in Rome.
However, Mboko then stunned Gauff in the fourth round of the Canadian Open last summer, with the American one of four Grand Slam winners the 19-year-old beat during her stunning run to the title.
Speaking on Tennis Channel, Mboko revealed how she and Gauff joined forces for action in Doha this week.
She said: “We were actually both entered with two other players, but unfortunately, neither of us were able to make it into the draw with our original partners.
“So, we were like: ‘Wanna play?’ and so, it just came about. But it’s pretty cool!”
Who will Mboko and Gauff face in the doubles draw?
Gauff and Mboko are unseeded in the women’s doubles draw, and have been handed a tough opening test in Doha.
The pair are set to take on Cristina Bucsa and Nicole Melichar-Martinez in the opening round, with the pair seeded seventh at the WTA 1000 event.
Melichar-Martinez is currently ranked 17th in the women’s doubles rankings, while Bucsa is just five places behind as the world No 22.
However, Melichar-Martinez is a former world No 6 in doubles and is a two-time women’s doubles Grand Slam finalist, while also winning the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2018.
Bucsa has won seven women’s doubles titles, including the Madrid Open in 2024.
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