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Canadian teen Victoria Mboko stunned top-seeded American Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday, exciting the home supporters as she advanced to the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 tournament in Montreal.
The 18-year-old wild card successfully defended against all four break points she encountered, and broke reigning French Open champion Gauff three times, securing a decisive victory in just 62 minutes.
“I don’t even know what to say still, I was kind of shocked about it all,” said Mboko, adding that the support of the home crowd had buoyed her late in the second set.
“I just remember in the last game when I was up 5-4, the crowd kind of started cheering even louder, and everything got super noisy,” she said. “I kind of used that as more fuel for myself and to pump myself up a little bit more.
“I think it helped me tremendously, especially in the last game, since they were so encouraging me. It was just amazing.”
Mboko began the season ranked 333rd in the world but has climbed to 85th, making her win over Gauff, whom she managed to push to three sets in Rome in May, the highlight of her career.
Gauff, who struggled with a total of 37 double faults in her first two matches, was caught off guard as the Canadian teenager quickly dominated the first set in just 25 minutes.
Gauff regrouped in the second set, but failed to convert on three break opportunities during the seventh game, missing a drop shot and hitting a forehand into the net on the first two attempts.
She earned another chance only to send a service return long, then missed a volley, allowing Mboko to reach game point, which she converted after Gauff hit a forehand long.
Facing a 15-30 deficit in the ninth game, Mboko fought back to level at 30-30 with a powerful backhand, then held serve to take a 5-4 lead.
Serving to remain in the match, Gauff quickly found herself down 0-30 and double-faulted, handing Mboko a match point, which was ultimately concluded when Gauff hit a backhand into the net.
Mboko’s next opponent will be Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, who triumphed in a back-and-forth match against China’s Zhu Lin.
