Tennis Upset: Rising Star Teen Mboko beats Rybakina to Reach Canadian Open final

BY: Osabuohien Imuetinyanosa

Record maker Teen Victoria Mboko fought back with resilience and stamina to squeeze out a tough win with 1-6 7-5 7-6(4) over 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and set up a Canadian Open showdown with Naomi Osaka.

Mboko, ranked 85th in the world, saved a match point against Kazakh ninth seed Rybakina in front of adoring home support as the 18-year-old became the first Canadian to beat three former Grand Slam champions in a single WTA event in the Open Era.

She has beaten Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff and Rybakina in her stunning run to the final in Montreal.

She is also just the third wildcard to reach the final at the Canadian Open in the Open Era after Monica Seles in 1995 and Simona Halep in 2015.

“I had everyone supporting me and pushing me through. Without you guys, I don’t think I would’ve been able to pull this through,” Mboko said after reaching her first WTA 1000 final.

Nonetheless, four-times Grand Slam champion Osaka took her spot in a WTA 1000 final for the first time since Miami 2022 after another impressive display, beating Danish 16th seed Clara Tauson 6-2 7-6(7) in the second semi-final.
The 27-year-old Osaka, one of the former world number one, is the first Japanese player in Canadian Open for the first time.

On the other hand the men’s tournament in Toronto, went sour for Zverev, a three-times Grand Slam runner-up, in the semis thumped with a 6-3 4-6 7-6(4) loss against 11th seed Russian Karen Khachanov.

The 29-year-old Khachanov, rising to 12th in the world rankings, saved a match point to reach his second ATP Masters 1000 final, with the previous coming at Paris in 2018 where he upset Novak Djokovic.

Reactions from Khachanov, – “I had to dig deep and lift my level. It was a very demanding, very mental, very physical match. So I’m very happy to get the win after losing some easy ones to him in recent years,”

“Today was a real close one. I was match point down, if the ball touches the net and drops over we wouldn’t be talking now.”
Khachanov set to battle the final with American fourth seed Ben Shelton, who sent home his second-seeded countryman Taylor Fritz 6-4 6-3 to be named the youngest American to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final since Andy Roddick in Toronto in 2004.