Overnight sensation, Coco Gauff overboard! Dream news for Iga Świątek
For Victoria Mboko, Saturday brought one of the most important matches of her tennis career. The Canadian isn't even 19, and this is her first season on the WTA Tour. However, she already faced Coco Gauff at a top-1000 tournament in Rome. The qualifier then took a set from the overwhelming favorite, but won the remaining two sets in three games. She lacked a bit of experience.
As the months passed, however, Mboko continued her successful run in Montreal. She won her first three matches, against Kimberly Birrell, Sofia Kenin, and Marie Bouzkova, losing a total of one set. Now she felt confident in her match against the Roland Garros champion, and this time, she could count on the support of the crowd in the country where she had lived since childhood.
Interestingly, Mboko was also born in the United States, though her family moved to Canada just a few months after her birth. In Montreal, the 18-year-old could therefore count on loud support from the stands, which she intended to enjoy from the start of the match against Coco Gauff. The vast majority of the crowd, eager to support their compatriot, filled the stands at IGA Stadium.
Buoyed by the support of her fans, the 85th-ranked player in the world broke Coco Gauff in the very first game of the match. She looked superb on the court, constantly surprising her more accomplished opponent with flat shots. She played as if she had many years of professional tennis under her belt, and this caused Gauff great problems.
Less than 20 minutes into the match, Mboko was celebrating a double break with the fans. It was 4-1, and the Montreal court was beginning to smell of excitement. That's exactly what a potential victory for the Canadian should be, even despite Gauff's rather poor form in previous matches. She had lost a set against both Danielle Collins and Veronica Kudiermietova.
The mood in the stands was upbeat, however, as Mboko extended her lead to 5-1, coming within a hair's breadth of a surprisingly comfortable lead. But that wasn't the end of it. Just 26 minutes later, the Canadian, to deafening applause, led Coco Gauff 6-1, closing in on the biggest victory of her career.
Coco Gauff has taken things to the next level. And it still wasn't enough.Virtually nothing seemed to be working for the American. A staggering 14 unforced errors and a mere 50% first serve were key factors in the two-time Grand Slam champion's first-set defeat. Without an immediate improvement, it seemed impossible to make up for the deficit. Mboko, however, was thriving on both her first and second serves.
Gauff needed a quick return to better form, and she did, though it still wasn't enough to begin dominating Mboko. The American held the break for nine consecutive games, finally reaching the point where a break would have meant defeat.
She started the tenth game with a double fault, and then another one followed. Under immense pressure, Gauff lost her serve and let herself be broken, losing the match 1-6, 4-6. Victoria Mboko notched the biggest victory of her career and... helped Iga Świątek. By winning the WTA 1000 tournament in Montreal, the Polish player can return to the second-place position, something Gauff needed to achieve after losing early in the tournament.
Coco Gauff - Victoria Mboko 1:6, 4:6
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