Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko rallied to defeat reigning Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Qatar TotalEnergies Open. The victory secures Mboko's entry into the WTA Top 10. She will face Jelena Ostapenko in the semifinals.
Victoria Mboko, ranked No. 13 on the WTA Tour, produced a resilient performance on Friday at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha, overcoming second seed Elena Rybakina in a 2-hour, 23-minute quarterfinal match. The 19-year-old Canadian, who had previously beaten Rybakina en route to her title in Montreal last August, improved her head-to-head record to 2-2 with this win. Rybakina, the World No. 3, entered with a nine-match winning streak but could not maintain her edge after splitting the first two sets.
The match began with Mboko taking a 2-0 lead, only for Rybakina to win five of the next six games to reach 5-3. Mboko then captured four straight games to claim the first set 7-5. In the second set, Rybakina broke early for a 3-1 advantage, and after Mboko leveled at 3-3, the Kazakh secured the set 6-4 with a final ace.
In the decider, Rybakina broke in the fifth game to lead 4-2, but Mboko broke back for 4-4 and held serve to reach 5-4. Serving to stay in the match, Rybakina faced four match points; Mboko converted the fourth with a backhand return that forced an error, sealing the 6-4 third-set victory.
"Going into the match I knew I would have to put up a really big fight," Mboko said afterward. "She'd just won the Australian Open... it wasn't going to be easy at all." She praised Rybakina's serving as the best on tour and noted her own ability to break at critical moments despite lower pressure.
Mboko, who earlier defeated fifth seed Mirra Andreeva in the round of 16, becomes the first Canadian teenager to reach the Top 10 since Bianca Andreescu in 2019. Her semifinal opponent, Jelena Ostapenko, advanced with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Elisabetta Cocciaretto, marking her 24th victory in Doha tournament history. A win would make Mboko the fourth Canadian to enter the Top 10.
