What a Canada Day for Victoria Mboko.
The 18-year-old from Toronto snuck into the main draw on Tuesday morning as a lucky loser and proceeded to take full advantage of her second opportunity, scoring the biggest win of her career by ranking over world No. 29 Magdalena Frech with a decisive straight-set victory in her first ever main-draw match at Wimbledon.
It was not a perfect Canada Day for the Canucks at the All-England Club though, as Denis Shapovalov was upset in his first-round match.
Having lost in the final round of qualifying, Mboko’s patience hanging around London paid off as she got the call on Tuesday morning to take Anastasia Potapova’s spot in the draw. She seemed unbothered by the last-minute entry, the fact that she was making her debut at tennis’ most hallowed venue, and her high-ranked opponent as the teen was in control from start to finish in the 6-3, 6-2 win.
Even though Frech was the seed in the matchup, Mboko looked like the better player throughout, striking more winners (18 to 11), breaking serve five times while also winning an impressive 77 per cent of her own first-serve points. The Canadian only faced three break points in the match and saved two of them.
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Mboko showed up ready to play despite the late entry to the draw, breaking Frech in the opening game of the match when the Pole committed back-to-back errors. Despite not appearing the most comfortable with the grass under her feet, the young Canadian was not holding back, using her heavy hitting to keep Frech on the defensive.
The Pole had one chance to break back in the fourth game but Mboko drew an error to maintain her advantage. The Canadian continued to ride that early break until the final game as Frech served to stay in it. A backhand miss from the Pole gave the teen a set point, where Mboko came into the net and was able to draw an error to wrap up the opening frame.
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It seemed like Frech might be able to turn the match around when Mboko started the second set slowly, double-faulting to go down love-40 and eventually missing a forehand to surrender the break. However, the Canadian responded with a nearly identical break in the following game to stay level at 1-1.
At 3-2, the door opened for the teen when Frech double-faulted to go down 40-AD. Mboko teed off on a return with a backhand that the Pole could not handle, giving the Canadian the break lead. Just like the first set, Mboko did not need to serve it out. The teen went up 15-40, double match point, on Frech’s serve at 2-5 and the Pole missed a backhand to send the Canadian into the second round of Wimbledon.
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After having reached the third round of Roland-Garros in her Grand Slam debut last month, Mboko has a chance to do it again now at the All-England Club. She awaits the winner between Hailey Baptiste and Sorana Cirstea in the second round.
Shapovalov Shocked
Denis Shapovalov’s 2025 Wimbledon campaign came to a surprising end on Tuesday as the 27th-seeded Canadian was upset by Mariano Navone of Argentina in four sets.
The 2021 semifinalist at the All-England Club seemed primed to get out of round one at The Championships for the fourth year in a row when he led by a set and a break. However, the Argentine, who had never won a tour-level match on grass before in his career, mounted a shocking comeback to send Shapovalov packing with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 win.
Often, Shapovalov rides or dies by the serve and that was the case on Tuesday in London. While he won 72 per cent of his first-serve points, the 26-year-old only put 54 per cent of his first serves in play and won a mere 41 per cent of points when missing his first delivery. He also double-faulted 11 times. His aggression in the rallies was also erratic, as he hit more winners, 30 to 25, but had significantly more unforced errors with 51 to the Argentine’s 31.
There were warning signs early when Shapovalov hit three consecutive double faults in his opening service game and had to save a break point, but he seemed to settle in as he broke Navone in the following game on his way to a quick 3-0 lead. The Argentine managed to break back to get to 2-3 but Shapovalov did not let him consolidate, breaking again to maintain the advantage.
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This time, the Canadian did not let his opponent back in it. Shapovalov held on to his next two service games to take the opening frame. At 2-2 in the second set, Navone played a nightmare game, missing three straight forehands to gift the break to the 27th seed.
Despite being up a set and break, Shapovalov was unable to keep his foot on the gas. He played a sloppy game of his own as he tried to consolidate, allowing Navone to break right back and level at 3-3.
That kicked off a run of domination for the Argentine, as he won 10 of 12 games to flip the set and a break disadvantage into a two-set-to-one lead.
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After the next three games went with serve, Shapovalov played another poor game serving to stay in the set with a double fault and an error off each wing to give Navone two set points. The Argentine fired a winner on the second to level the match.
The third set started out ok for Shapovalov before quickly getting out of hand. He had a couple of break points in the opening game on Navone’s serve, although the Argentine found winners on both, and then he had a fairly routine hold for 1-1.
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From there, it was all Navone. The Argentine won 20 of the next 24 points, with Shapovalov never getting past 15 in a game. It only took 36 minutes for Navone to take the set.
Shapovalov settled down in the fourth, ending the run with a hold in the opening game and then once again having a look at an early break, only for Navone to coax an error and hold for 1-1.
The pair exchanged holds through eight games before Shapovalov hit another skid. From 30-15 up on his own serve, he committed three straight unforced errors to set his opponent up to serve for the match. The Argentine made no mistake, closing it out on his first match point.
Félix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriel Diallo are both still alive in the men’s singles and are expected to play their second-round matches on Wednesday.
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Feature Photo: Wimbledon Images via ITF
