Victoria Mboko reached the Canadian Open 2025 quarterfinals by defeating number-1 seed Coco Gauff

Victoria Mboko defeated the number 1 seed, Coco Gauff, 6-1, 6-4 at the Omnium Bank National on Sunday to advance to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal match is scheduled for Monday. Mboko has become the youngest female player in the last three years to reach the top eight, a feat earlier achieved by Gauff. She is also the second 'wild card' player to beat the top seed at the Canadian Open in the Open Era; Stephanie Dubois did this against Kim Clijsters in 2006.

Mboko is the fifth youngest player to defeat a top-seeded player in a WTA 1000 event since the format was introduced in 2009. The only players younger than her to accomplish this are Gauff (Rome 2021), Mirra Andreeva (Indian Wells 2025), Belinda Bencic (Toronto 2015), and Kai Chen Chang (Tokyo 2009).

According to the WTA, Mboko is also the youngest Canadian quarterfinalist at the 'Canadian Open' since Helen Kelesi in 1987. She started this season ranked No. 333 in the PIF WTA rankings. She entered this tournament with a ranking of No. 85, but after her big win over Coco Gauff, she has now risen to No. 53 in the live rankings. If she wins one more match, her ranking will jump straight to No. 24.

Her remarkable journey began with small-level tournaments, winning 20 straight matches and four titles. She qualified for the second WTA Tour event held in Rome and challenged Coco Gauff for three sets in the second round. In Sunday's match, Mboko demonstrated tremendous patience, saving all five break points against her, while converting four out of five break points against Gauff. This was the turning point of the match.

Mboko showed great confidence, saving all five break points against her, and converting four out of five against Gauff. This was decisive in the match. She will face the winner of Zhu Lin versus Jessica Bujas Manero in the quarterfinals on Monday. In the other quarterfinal, the 24th seed Marta Kostyuk will face the third seed, Elena Rybakina.