Victoria Mboko has impressively advanced to the third round of French Open qualifying following a commanding 6-3, 6-2 victory over Kathinka von Deichmann this Thursday.
The promising 18-year-old Canadian showcased her skills by winning 82% of her first serves and capitalizing on six out of seven break-point opportunities.
Despite facing six double faults of her own, Mboko delivered the only ace of the match, while von Deichmann struggled with an alarming nine double faults.
With this victory, Mboko has elevated her season record to an impressive 39-5, primarily achieving success on the lower-tier ITF World Tennis Tour.
The Toronto native is now on the quest to secure her first Grand Slam main draw appearance, facing Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan in the final round of qualifying on Friday.
Mboko aims to join four fellow Canadians—Leylah Fernandez from Laval, Félix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriel Diallo, both hailing from Montreal, and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill—in the prestigious main singles draw at Roland-Garros.
Fernandez, currently ranked No. 27 on the WTA Tour, is set to kick off her campaign against Serbia’s No. 34 Olga Danilovic.
Shapovalov enters the tournament as Canada’s highest-ranked player on the ATP Tour at No. 27, ready to battle Spain’s Pedro Martinez in the opening round.
Auger-Aliassime, ranked No. 30, will face Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi, while No. 53 Diallo is set to play against Argentina’s No. 18 Francisco Cerundolo.
All three Canadian men find themselves in the same quarter of the draw, which also features notable competitors like No. 3 Alexander Zverev, No. 6 Novak Djokovic, No. 11 Daniil Medvedev, and No. 16 Grigor Dimitrov.
Fernandez and Diallo are also planning to compete in doubles.
Canada’s top-ranked women’s doubles player, Gabriela Dabrowski from Ottawa, is set to join forces with doubles partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand. However, the reigning WTA Finals doubles champions had to withdraw from their semifinal at the warm-up Strasbourg Open due to an injury to Dabrowski’s chest.
Rob Shaw from North Bay, Ont., has received a wild card entry into the wheelchair quad singles and doubles events at Roland-Garros.
Meanwhile, Auger-Aliassime continued to hone his skills, securing a 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 6-3 victory over France’s Alexandre Muller in the quarterfinals of the Hamburg Open.
The sixth-seeded Auger-Aliassime recorded six aces and converted four out of twelve break-point chances during the match.
He is now set to face third-seed Andrey Rublev of Russia in the semifinals, with Rublev sporting a 6-1 head-to-head advantage over the Canadian.
