On Sunday, Victoria Mboko knocked off No. 1 seed Coco Gauff at the Omnium Banque Nationale 6-1, 6-4 in a little over an hour to advance to Monday’s quarterfinals. She’s the youngest woman to make the elite eight here since Gauff three years ago.
Mboko is only the second wild card in the Open Era to defeat the top seed at the Canadian Open after Stephanie Dubois in 2006 (versus Kim Clijsters). She’s the fifth youngest player to defeat the top seed in a WTA 1000 event since the format’s introduction in 2009 — older only than Gauff (Rome 2021), Mirra Andreeva (Indian Wells 2025), Belinda Bencic (Toronto 2015) and Kai Chen Chang (Tokyo 2009)
Mboko is also the youngest Canadian quarterfinalist at the Canadian Open since Helen Kelesi in 1987, as per WTA.
Mboko, who began the season at No. 333 in the PIF WTA Rankings, came into the tournament at No. 85. The win over Gauff sends her to No. 53 in the live rankings. One more would bring her to No. 24.
It began with 20 straight wins in smaller events and four titles. She qualified in Rome — her second WTA Tour event — and pushed Gauff to three sets in a second-round match.
Mboko, showing enormous poise, managed to save all five break points against her, while converting four of five against Gauff. That essentially was the match.
Mboko will play the winner of the later match between Zhu Lin and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in a Monday quarterfinal match.
The other quarterfinal pits No. 24 seed Marta Kostyuk versus No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina
Kostyuk outlasted No. 28 McCartney Kessler 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in a marathon that ran to 2 hours and 35 minutes. Rybakina defeated No. 30 Dayana Yastremska in a similar match, prevailing 5-7, 6-2, 7-5.
Popyrin hit 30 winners to 24 unforced errors, while Rune hit 24 winners and 39 unforced errors, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
Popyrin is No. 26 in the PIF ATP Rankings, but faced the prospect of tumbling outside the Top 50 without a deep run in Toronto as he defends the 1000 points he won last year in Montreal.
Popyrin rallies to upset Rune as Canadian Open title defense remains alive
Defending champion Alexei Popyrin claimed his second consecutive win over a former Top 5 player when he rallied from a set down to defeat fifth seed Holger Rune 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers in Toronto on Sunday (IST).
Popyrin went 0/11 on break point opportunities in the first set before converting both break points in the second set and his first of the third as he powered to the finish line behind 14 aces and 13 forehand winner, as per ATP.
“I started this week not high on confidence, needing to get a grasp of the mental side,” Popyrin said of defending his title and 1000 points. “But this week I kind of just let go of all the pressure.
“After the first set I was pissed [about not breaking]. But when I came back out to return again, it felt like I was in control of the match. I told myself to be aggressive on the next break point that I got, and from then on I felt quite comfortable.”
The 25-year-old Australian produced a perfect blend of Serve + 1 power and consistency, making just two unforced errors from the baseline in the second set, as he extended his winning streak to nine matches in Canada. He will next play top seed Alexander Zverev.
Popyrin, who ousted former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in the third round, advanced to his first hard-court quarter-final at any level since his stunning run to the title 12 months ago in Montreal.
“I feel comfortable on these courts, where I hit my first aggressive shot and then can dictate from there… My forehand was the standout today,” Popyrin said.