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Top-seeded Coco Gauff was upset by 18-year-old Victoria Mboko 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday night at the National Bank Open in Montreal, prompting the reigning French Open champion to credit the Canadian teen’s level of play in a post-match interview.
“She’s playing high-level tennis,” Gauff said, as reported by the Associated Press. “I think that’s what showed today. I think she was the better player.”
Mboko, ranked No. 85 in the world, advanced to her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal with the win, defeating Gauff in just over an hour. The 21-year-old American committed 24 unforced errors and five double faults during the match, continuing a pattern of serving struggles that has followed her since her title run in Paris. Gauff had 23 double faults in her opener against Danielle Collins and 14 in a second-round win over Veronika Kudermetova.
Victoria Mboko gets ‘revenge' on Coco Gauff
Mboko took control early, racing through the first set and holding off Gauff’s attempts to rally in the second. She credited the crowd at Montreal’s IGA Stadium for helping her maintain momentum.
“When I was up 5-4, the crowd started cheering even louder, and everything got super noisy,” Mboko said. “I used that as more fuel for myself and to pump myself up a little bit more. I just used the crowd to my advantage as much as I could.”
The win served as revenge for Mboko, who lost to Gauff in three sets in Rome earlier this year. Mboko said that match stayed on her mind as motivation throughout Saturday’s win.
“I was actually really thinking about it a lot during the match,” she said. “I had flashbacks to when I played her in Rome a little bit. I just remember when she came out playing even better and stepped it up a bit better. Wanted to step my game up a little bit more and make sure I matched whatever she was producing, and I wanted to stay right there with her.”
Mboko will face Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the quarterfinals. Bouzas Maneiro defeated China’s Lin Zhu 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 in a rain-delayed match that ended shortly before midnight. Gauff has now lost three of five matches since her French Open title.
