With her star rising, Canadian sensation Mboko set for NBO semifinal

MONTREAL - Victoria Mboko isn’t only winning over Canadian fans with her captivating run at the National Bank Open, she’s making believers of her opponents.

The teenage sensation is having a dream tournament within a dream season. Ranked outside the top 300 to start the year, Mboko is projected to rise into the top 50 in the world rankings after earning a semifinal berth in Montreal.

And now other players on the tour want in on the success.

“After this week, she has more girls talking to her, she has the very best coming to see her,” Mboko’s coach, Nathalie Tauziat, said Tuesday. “Some have already asked to play doubles with her.

"There are certainly changes."

Life, as Mboko is learning, moves fast. And the changes need managing, Tauziat said, because it’s one thing to rise the rankings quickly and another to stay there, especially at only 18.

"It's a danger," she said of Mboko’s quick rise in the rankings. "There are tons of women who climb really high, but don't succeed in maintaining that level.

"When we succeed, we earn more money, more people are around us, life changes. Life changes and that's normal, but you have to manage that to maintain the composure that she has today."

Mboko, who was born in Charlotte, N.C., to Congolese parents but grew up in Toronto and Burlington, Ont., will battle ninth-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan on Wednesday for a place in the final.

After Eugenie Bouchard’s impending retirement generated buzz early at the WTA 1000 event, the big-serving Mboko has become the tournament’s headliner as the only Canadian — man or woman — to advance past the third round in singles. She’s the first Canadian to reach the tournament's final four since Bianca Andreescu's title run in 2019.

All she’s done this tournament is win against higher-ranked opponents, dropping one set so far.

Mboko fought off a slow start to down Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-4, 6-2 in Monday’s quarterfinal. Her powerful groundstrokes also proved too much to handle for world No. 2 Coco Gauff — the tournament’s top seed — and former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin.

It’s her latest milestone in a breakthrough season that has featured five trophies on the lower-tier ITF World Tennis Tour, a run through qualifying to the French Open third round and a first-round win at Wimbledon.

Tauziat said before that the season began, their goals were to enter French Open qualifying and break the top 100 by year’s end.

"After seven months, she is already top 50. It's going very fast," Tauziat said. "But she has that level of play, we knew she could do something good.

"She shattered the goals we set, so now we're going to set higher objectives."

Ange-Kevin Koua, a former NCAA player who’s serving as Mboko’s hitting partner this week, has seen her coming since she was 10 years old and playing in an under-12 tournament.

"It was just a matter of time until she popped up and did big things," said Koua, who played at the University of North Dakota last year. "She enjoys being out there. It doesn’t look like she puts a lot of pressure on herself. Just going out there, enjoying the moment and a really down-to-earth person."

As for her play on the court?

"Tough person to rally with, even," he said. "A lot of power."

For at least a third consecutive day, Mboko drew a crowd of fans, cameras and security guards around the practice courts at IGA Stadium.

Koua, who also exchanged rallies with Gauff and Rybakina during the tournament, has seen the mania surrounding Mboko grow with each win.

"The first time we practised, there were not a lot of people," he said. "Every day, it kept increasing. It’s fun to see. It's great for her to have so many people coming to support her."

Rybakina, a former world No. 3 and Wimbledon champion, eliminated Mboko 6-3, 7-5 in the D.C. Open’s second round July 23. She'll have to withstand a pro-Mboko crowd — and a more confident opponent — to beat the young Canadian for the second time in two weeks.

"Rybakina plays really good so far," Tauziat said. "I know she plays very fast, very hard, so it's going to be tough. But the thing (Mboko) has more than Rybakina this week is the (fan support).

"I'm sure the public will be behind Vicky."

The prime time slots and packed stadiums in her favour are a new reality for Mboko, but Tauziat said she’s handling the heightened attention with poise.

"She takes it very well. Vicky is calm, she's someone who's relaxed. She is not someone who is very flashy … so that also helps her in her professional trajectory," Tauziat said.

"This week will be very interesting because she will learn a lot about herself, she will also learn a great deal about the circuit … She is 18, soon 19 years old, so she is very young. So we must not get ahead of ourselves. We must keep our feet on the ground."

The chance to play alongside some of the best in doubles, however, is a nice perk.

"When you have a very good player who comes to ask you to play doubles, we manage that very well," Tauziat said, laughing. "There is nothing wrong with that."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2025.