Canadian tennis star Victoria Mboko is heading into the semi-finals of the Qatar Open after another upset win.
The 19-year-old from Toronto beat second-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, the 2026 Australian Open champion, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Tenth-seeded Mboko defeated fifth-seeded Mira Andreeva 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5) on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals.
The Canadian won in dramatic fashion on Thursday, sealing the match with a sixth break of serve. After Mboko jumped out to a 40-0 lead in the 10th inning, Rybakina fought back to tie the game, but Mboko scored two points in a row to complete a stunning upset.
Mboko’s break attempts were 6 of 12, while Rybakina’s break attempts were 5 of 9. Rybakina hit 11 aces in the match to the Canadian’s six.
Mboko won the first set with three service games. Rybakina took a 5-3 lead by breaking and holding serve, but Mboko broke again after holding serve and tied the score at 5-5.
The Canadian sealed the victory with her third break, despite having fewer service serves (just two to Rybakina’s four) and a double fault (Rybakina had none). Rybakina also broke serve twice in the first set.
In the first game of the second set, Rybakina broke serve for the third time and led 3-1. Mboko broke serve for the fourth time to tie the score at 3-3, but Rybakina broke again to lead 4-3 and won the serve 6-4 to force the tie into a deciding set.
Mboko improves to 12-3 on the season. She had a breakout year in 2025, winning two titles, including the WTA 1000 title at the National Bank Montreal Open.
She enters the Qatar Open with a career-high ranking of 13th and is expected to move into the top 10 after her win on Thursday.
