Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko’s magical ride in Montreal will continue into the Canadian Open final after another headline-grabbing upset victory. The 18-year-old wild card saved a match point in dispatching No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(4), putting her through to her first WTA Tour singles final.
Mboko became the first Canadian player to defeat three former Grand Slam champions (Rybakina, Coco Gauff, Sofia Kenin) in a single WTA event in the Open Era and the fourth Canadian finalist at her country’s signature event in the Open Era after Faye Urban (1968 and 1969), Vicky Berner (1969) and Bianca Andreescu (2019), moreover, the youngest of those, and the first to do it in Montreal, according to WTA stats.
The teenage Canadian also became the third wildcard to reach the final at the Canadian Open in the Open Era after Monica Seles (1995) and Simona Halep (2015).
In the final frame, Mboko continued to show maturity beyond her years with her back against the wall. Rybakina twice served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5, but the former Wimbledon champion is the one who ended up flinching so close to the finish line.
Mboko saved a match point down 4-5 and broke again at 5-6. In the tiebreak, the young Canadian was the steadiest of the two players on the court, hitting the ball with purpose off both wings and coming up with clutch serves when she needed them most.
“In a tiebreaker every point counts. I really put emphasis on that, especially in that kind of moment where I had that really long point. I wanted to as much as I can to put as many balls in the court and to fight as hard as I possibly could. So, I wanted to stay really calm as well, because it’s an incredibly stressful moment.
“I feel like I’ve been in situations where the score was tight, and I kind of panicked a little bit, but I really wanted to calm myself down and forget about the last point and always focus on the next,” Mboko said in her post-match press conference.
After starting the season ranked outside the Top 300 in the WTA Rankings and entering the tournament ranked No. 85, Mboko is assured of cracking the Top 40 no matter the result of final.
In the final, Mboko will face four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, who advanced to her first WTA 1000-level final since 2022 with a 6-2, 7-6(7) win over No. 16 seed Clara Tauson in the nightcap. Osaka saved two set points in the second set at 6-4 in the tiebreak after losing leads of 3-1 and 4-2 earlier in the set.
Shelton downs Fritz to reach first Masters 1000 final
Ben Shelton upstaged higher-ranked compatriot Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3 Wednesday night in Toronto to muscle his way into his first ATP Masters 1000 final at the Canadian Open on Thursday (IST).
Improving to 26-1 this season after winning the first set, the World No. 7 combined an expected service masterclass with a surprising baseline assault on return to declaw Fritz, who had dropped serve just once in his previous three matches heading into the semifinals, ATP reports.
The match started with a flurry of break point opportunities, five for Shelton and two for Fritz, but the set remained on serve. Shelton would get another chance in the ninth game and this time he converted, setting himself up to serve out the set.
The American No. 2 kept up the pressure in the second and was rewarded with a break to go up 3-2. With the way he was serving, the result seemed inevitable. Fritz never had another break point after the second game of the first set and Shelton punched his ticket to his first Masters 1000 final with another break in the final game.
Shelton claimed his 100th tour-level win earlier in the tournament and will move to a career-high No. 6 ahead of Novak Djokovic if he defeats Karen Khachanov in the final.
Earlier in the day, Khachanov saved a match point in a nervy and error-strewn 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4) victory over top seed Alexander Zverev to reach the final.
For nearly three hours, the two big men exchanged body blows from the baseline in long, gruelling rallies. Each of the first two sets saw just a single break-point opportunity, which was converted. Khachanov broke for a 3-1 lead in the first set but then was broken trying to stay alive in the second at 4-5.
The 2018 Paris Masters champion had two chances to break early in the decider but could not convert. He then had to save a match point on his own serve in the 12th game before sending it to a tiebreak. From 1-3 down, Khachanov was five straight points and converted his second match point to reach his second Masters 1000 final.