MONTREAL — Victoria Mboko keeps on rising.
Two days after dispatching No. 1 seed Coco Gauff, the Canadian teenage sensation booked her place in the National Bank Open semifinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in women’s singles action Monday night.
Mboko upset Gauff in straight sets Saturday, winning the lopsided match in just 62 minutes.
There was no letdown Monday, even if the 18-year-old from Toronto had to dig a little deeper to pull out the victory.
After taking a back-and-forth — and error-filled — first set, Mboko lost on serve in a sluggish start to the second set.
Then the momentum shifted. Mboko broke back in the fourth, sixth and eighth games while holding serve throughout. Bouzas Maneiro’s backhand sailed long on match point, sending the fans to their feet after 77 minutes at IGA Stadium.
“So excited to be in a semifinal here, I want to thank everyone for your support once again,” Mboko, who trained in Montreal as a junior, told the centre court crowd. “It’s been an unreal experience and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
Mboko is the first Canadian to reach the WTA 1000 event’s semifinals since Bianca Andreescu’s title run in 2019 — and the first to do so in Montreal in the Open Era. She’s also the youngest woman to reach the semis since Belinda Bencic’s 2015 win in Toronto.
And there’s more: Monica Seles (1995) and Simona Halep (2015) are the only other women to make the final four after entering the tournament as a wild card.
It’s been a breakthrough year for Mboko, who has surged from outside the top 300 to No. 85 in the world rankings. That number is projected to climb to at least No. 48, according to WTA live rankings.
Bouzas Maneiro, ranked 51st, was also playing in the quarterfinals of a 1000-level tournament for the first time.
As the last Canadian remaining in singles, Mboko has made a name for herself at home, putting her powerful ball-striking on display in her first National Bank Open main draw.
She will meet Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina in Wednesday's semifinals. The ninth-seeded Rybakina advanced after Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk was forced to retire with a wrist injury while trailing 6-1, 2-1 earlier Monday night.
The tournament, which runs through Thursday's final, is wide open after the top-five seeds failed to reach the quarterfinals.
After two injury-plagued years, Mboko — who had shown promise as a junior — opened the season with a 22-match winning streak and captured five titles on the lower-tier ITF Tour.
She then qualified for her first Grand Slam main draw at the French Open, reaching the third round, before stunning 25th seed Magdalena Frech in the first round at Wimbledon.
And the upsets keep coming.
In Montreal, Mboko has dropped just one set, rattling off wins over 79th-ranked Kimberly Birrell, 23rd seed Sofia Kenin, 39th-ranked Marie Bouzkova and Gauff, the world No. 2.
The latest victory boosts her record to 25-8 against higher-ranked players and 51-9 in all competitions.
Mboko hit three aces and won 58.2 per cent of the points while converting five of nine breakpoint chances and saving three of five.
The hometown favourite also won 16 of 20 points on Bouzas Maneiro’s second serve.
Buzzing in anticipation, the crowd rose to its feet for loud applause the moment Mboko emerged from the tunnel.
Neither player looked dialed in during the first set, both firing shots long and wide and wasting opportunities to break early.
At 2-2, Mboko fell in a 40-15 hole, but ultimately took the prolonged game thanks to five service winners, regularly opening points with 180-kilometre-per-hour strikes.
The young Canadian then went up 40-0 before a series of errors, including a few mis-hits on her backhand, helped Bouzas Maneiro hold.
Mboko retook a 40-0 advantage while leading 4-3. This time, Bouzas Maneiro fired her shot into the net.
After Bouzas Maneiro broke back, Mboko took the first set with her second breakpoint when the Spaniard struck her forehand wide.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
