Wildcard teen Mboko stuns Rybakina to set up Montreal final with Osaka

Montreal, Aug 7 (IANS) Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko's magical ride in Montreal will continue into the Canadian Open final after another headline-grabbing upset victory. The 18-year-old wild card saved a match point in dispatching No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(4), putting her through to her first WTA Tour singles final.

Mboko became the first Canadian player to defeat three former Grand Slam champions (Rybakina, Coco Gauff, Sofia Kenin) in a single WTA event in the Open Era and the fourth Canadian finalist at her country's signature event in the Open Era after Faye Urban (1968 and 1969), Vicky Berner (1969) and Bianca Andreescu (2019), moreover, the youngest of those, and the first to do it in Montreal, according to WTA stats.

The teenage Canadian also became the third wildcard to reach the final at the Canadian Open in the Open Era after Monica Seles (1995) and Simona Halep (2015).

In the final frame, Mboko continued to show maturity beyond her years with her back against the wall. Rybakina twice served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5, but the former Wimbledon champion is the one who ended up flinching so close to the finish line.

Mboko saved a match point down 4-5 and broke again at 5-6. In the tiebreak, the young Canadian was the steadiest of the two players on the court, hitting the ball with purpose off both wings and coming up with clutch serves when she needed them most.

“In a tiebreaker every point counts. I really put emphasis on that, especially in that kind of moment where I had that really long point. I wanted to as much as I can to put as many balls in the court and to fight as hard as I possibly could. So, I wanted to stay really calm as well, because it's an incredibly stressful moment.

"I feel like I've been in situations where the score was tight, and I kind of panicked a little bit, but I really wanted to calm myself down and forget about the last point and always focus on the next," Mboko said in her post-match press conference.

After starting the season ranked outside the Top 300 in the WTA Rankings and entering the tournament ranked No. 85, Mboko is assured of cracking the Top 40 no matter the result of final.

In the final, Mboko will face four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, who advanced to her first WTA 1000-level final since 2022 with a 6-2, 7-6(7) win over No. 16 seed Clara Tauson in the nightcap. Osaka saved two set points in the second set at 6-4 in the tiebreak after losing leads of 3-1 and 4-2 earlier in the set.

--IANS

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