Victoria Mboko Upsets Rybakina
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko stunned Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina to reach the Qatar Open semifinals, knocking out the world No. 2 in the quarterfinals. Both Rybakina and Iga Swiatek were eliminated in the quarters. Mboko will crack the world's top 10 if she makes the final, and at 19 years old, she already ranks third in main-draw WTA match wins since 2025.
- The quarterfinal match was a dramatic, back-and-forth affair lasting over two hours, with Mboko rallying from being down 2-4 in the final set to win four consecutive games and clinch the victory 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. - This was not the first time Mboko has defeated Rybakina at a major tournament; she also beat her in the semifinals of the 2025 National Bank Open in Montreal on her way to her first WTA 1000 title. - The victory snapped Rybakina's nine-match winning streak following her championship run at the Australian Open. Before the tournament, Rybakina had mentioned recovering from a cold. - Mboko's win guarantees she will enter the world's top 10 for the first time, making her the first Canadian teenager to achieve this feat since Bianca Andreescu in 2019. - The Canadian's ascent has been swift; she began the 2025 season ranked outside the top 300 before winning two titles, including the prestigious Canadian Open as a wildcard. - Born in the United States to parents from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mboko grew up in Toronto and is the youngest of four siblings who all played tennis. - To reach the quarterfinals, Mboko had to overcome fifth seed Mirra Andreeva in a dramatic third-round match where she saved a match point to win in a deciding tiebreak.
