Canada’s Victoria Mboko advances to Qatar Open final, secures top 10 ranking

Victoria Mboko of Canada plays a forehand return to Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Canada’s Victoria Mboko will play for the title at the Qatar Open and is assured of a Top 10 ranking when the WTA standings update Monday.

The 19-year-old from Toronto advanced to the final Friday, defeating Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2 in their semifinal. 

Mboko, the tournament’s 10th seed, converted five of nine break-point chances against Ostapenko, who broke twice in four opportunities.

Mboko finished with six aces and four double faults. Ostapenko, ranked No. 24 in the world, did not record an ace and double-faulted once.

Mboko becomes the fourth Canadian woman to crack the WTA Top 10 in singles, joining Carling Bassett-Seguso, Eugenie Bouchard and Bianca Andreescu.

“It’s kind of crazy,” Mboko said Friday. “I never expected something to happen so fast for me. I just have been taking it day by day, tournament by tournament. Every tournament I enter, I want to do well. I don’t really hold that much expectation of myself. It’s not like when I enter a tournament, I’m going to say I’m going to win it, but you always want to try your best.”

The Canadian will face 14th-seeded Karolina Muchova of Czechia in Saturday’s final.

• Watch the Qatar Open final on TSN

The 29-year-old Muchova advanced with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 comeback victory over Maria Sakkari.

Mboko’s run in Doha included an upset of Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina in three sets Thursday after defeating 18-year-old fifth seed Mirra Andreeva — the other teenage phenom on tour — in the quarterfinals, avenging her loss to the Russian in last month’s Adelaide International final.

Now rubbing shoulders with — and beating — some of the sport’s biggest names, Mboko insists she is keeping her expectations in check.

“I don’t really set goals for myself,” she said. “Just because I like to surprise myself along the way. You never know what’s going to happen in tennis. You can have high moments, you can have also low moments. I think just being positive with myself with whatever happens, it’s all a part of the process.”

In doubles, Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani, the fifth seeds, fell 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals to fourth seeds Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2026.