Canada's Victoria Mboko rallies to advance to 4th round of National Bank Open
Toronto native, 18, will next play top-seeded American Coco Gauff
Victoria Mboko's magical run at the National Bank Open in Montreal will continue into the weekend.
The 18-year-old from Toronto earned a third-round win over world No. 39 Marie Bouzkova 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 on Thursday night at IGA Stadium. Mboko overcame a one-set deficit, the first set she dropped all tournament, to defeat the Czech native in front of a loud and raucous crowd.
"There were so many people today," said Mboko. "It was a very difficult match, I feel like, mentally and physically for me.
"I'm just really happy to have come out with the win and felt really great coming off the court with the tennis I was able to produce towards the end of the match."
The last of nine Canadians remaining in the WTA 1000 main draw, Mboko collected her sixth win against a top-50 player.
Mboko will next play top-seeded American Coco Gauff, who defeated Russian Veronika Kudermetova in three sets earlier Thursday, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Gauff and Mboko will meet for the second time this season at a WTA 1000 tournament. The American got the better of Mboko in a second-round three-set battle on the clay courts in Rome in May.
"I'm really excited for it," said Mboko. "She's the No. 1 seed of this tournament. I've played her before and I know what I'm going to expect. I'm going to really expect a hard fight."
Gauff also expects a tough battle this time around against a new and improved Mboko.
"She's a great player," said Gauff. "We played on clay, so it will be a different match. Obviously, she's gotten more experience just being on tour and playing high-level players. It's going to be a tough match."
Bouzkova came out strong, breaking Mboko in her opening two service games to take a 3-0 lead.
Mboko got one of those breaks back the following game to cut the deficit to 3-1, but a trio of double faults in the fifth game gave the Czech her two-break cushion right back.
Bouzkova broke Mboko for the fourth time to take the opening set 6-1 in just 29 minutes.
"In the first set, of course, it was a very shaky start for me," said Mboko. "It felt like one of those days where you couldn't really understand what was going on, and you feel very off. Nothing is really working in your favour."
After a few moments spent in the locker room, Mboko returned to the court with a vengeance.
Mboko immediately broke her rival in the opening game of the second set, a break of serve she consolidated thanks to a fortuitous bounce off the net cord that landed fair. However, Mboko's second service game with three double faults in the match leveled the set at 2-2.
But it didn't faze Mboko, who got the break back, thanks to a double fault by her opponent.
She broke again in the ninth game to take the set 6-3.
Mboko said she shifted her mindset after that opening set, focusing particularly on her overall mobility on the court.
"In the second set, I wanted to make sure my movement was at least twice as better than it was in the first set, and my concentration as well," said Mboko. "I feel like I wasn't really as focused as I wanted to be.
"I wasn't very sharp with my movement and how I was kind of moving on the court laterally, front and back and side to side."
Bouzkova was forced to take a medical timeout after the second set with an apparent right thigh injury. Mboko took full advantage, breaking three times on her way to a 6-0 third-set.
In other results, Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk, seeded 24th, came from behind to beat 15th seed Daria Kasatkina, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) on Centre Court. Mirra Andreeva, the fourth seed, was bounced prematurely, falling to American McCartney Kessler in straight sets, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
The No. 8 seed, American Emma Navarro, also suffered a disappointing loss to the 30th seed Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, 7-5, 6-4. Ninth-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan ousted Romania's Jaqueline Cristian 6-0, 7-6 (5) in the late match.
Diallo meets Fritz on Friday night
A glance at the corners of the Court 1 grandstand at the National Bank Open on Thursday in Toronto told the story of the rising interest in Canadian tennis player Gabriel Diallo.
Spectators who couldn't get a seat for his doubles match were packed in tight between the bleachers and the fence to try to catch a partial glimpse of the six-foot-eight right-hander.
The 23-year-old from Montreal has rocketed to No. 36 in the world rankings and is the last remaining Canadian in the singles draw at the Masters 1000 event.
"He's not Canada's hope, he's here, man," said American Frances Tiafoe, a top-20 mainstay in recent years. "He's going to win a lot of matches."
Diallo, who recently won his first ATP Tour title in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, will meet second-seeded American Taylor Fritz in the Friday night showcase match at Sobeys Stadium.
It will be a rematch of their second-round battle at Wimbledon a month ago, which Fritz won in a gruelling five sets.
"I have the level to compete with those [top] guys," Diallo said. "So it was a big eye opener for me and for my team. We're really happy about that match.
"I wish the outcome was a little bit different, but overall [it was] very good and [I'm] looking forward [to] tomorrow."
Diallo has risen over 100 ranking positions in the last year. He has a booming serve — he touched 223 km/h on the radar gun Thursday — along with powerful groundstrokes, but has other weapons to keep opponents guessing.
"I'm so excited because I think he's not even halfway there yet," said coach Martin Laurendeau. "I mean as much as he's improved and as good as he is right now being ranked 36th in the world, I feel like I've got a notebook full of things that I need to work on with him still.
"He can improve in so many areas and that's exciting. It's nice to see a learning curve that steep and that quick."
As the No. 27 seed, Diallo had a first-round bye in singles play. He defeated Italian wild-card entry Matteo Gigante in the second round and will have a vocal Centre Court home crowd on his side against Fritz.
"It's going to give me strength and energy," Diallo said. "So I've just got to manage it right and use it at the right moment.
"Play with courage and be myself in the big moments, which is what you what you need to do against the best players."
The two highest-seeded Canadians — No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and No. 22 Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., — both lost their openers earlier in the week.
Diallo and Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., dropped a 7-6 (6), 6-2 decision to American Alex Michelsen and Tiafoe in doubles play. Michelsen was coming off an upset singles win over third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy earlier in the day.
Other singles winners included fifth-seeded Holger Rune of Denmark, eighth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway, 11th-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov and No. 14 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.
Top-seeded German Alexander Zverev defeated Italy's Matteo Arnaldi 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 in the evening session. Australia's Alexei Popyrin defeated tenth-seeded Daniil Medvedev 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the late match.
The Canadian wild-card duo of Calgary's Cleeve Harper and Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont., posted a 7-5, 7-5 win over Americans Evan King and Christian Harrison.
Play continues through Aug. 7 at the US$9.19-million tournament.
