Victoria Mboko was just four-years-old when her Doha round-two opponent Vera Zvonareva was the world No. 2.
On Tuesday, youth prevailed as the 19-year-old from Burlington reached the Qatar Total Energies Open third round after a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Zvonareva, in the two-time major finalist’s first WTA event since 2023.
Mboko had a challenging time in her service games, having to battle through deuce on a handful of occasions and face nine break points in the match, but the Canadian No. 1 managed to save seven. The world No. 13 made life even more difficult for Zvonareva though, converting on four of 11 break points, two which led to Mboko clinching the opening set and later, the match.
The experienced Zvonareva put Mboko under significant pressure to start the match. Despite the Canadian going up 2-0 thanks to an early break, the teen faced six break points across her opening three service games as Zvonareva was able to draw level at 3-3.
Later in the set was where Mboko turned things back up on return. The Burlingtonian let double break point slip in the eighth game, but another opportunity arose at 4-5, 40-AD, and the 19-year-old sealed the opener.
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To begin the second, it was Mboko who this time had to mount a small comeback from 0-2 down. However, the pressure was all via the Canuck the rest of the way as she held at least one break point in each of her return games, leading to a break in the fourth game to even the set at 2-2 before holding match points at 4-5, 15-40.
Zvonareva saved the first but some powerful hitting from Mboko wrapped up the contest, booking her place into just her second WTA 1000 third round.
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The Canadian will have a chance at revenge against fellow teen prodigy Mirra Andreeva in the last 16. Mboko lost out in straight sets to the world No. 7 in the Adelaide final earlier this year.
Feature Photo: Martin Sidorjak
