Canada’s Mboko loses to Krejcikova in first round of U.S. Open, Diallo advances

TSN’s Mark Roe breaks down Victoria Mboko’s first-round loss and looks ahead to Gabriel Diallo’s debut at the U.S. Open.

NEW YORK — Victoria Mboko’s U.S. Open debut ended early with a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Barbora Krejcikova of Czechia in women’s first-round singles Monday.

Mboko played her first match since claiming the National Bank Open title in Montreal earlier this month.

The rising star from Toronto, who turns 19 on Tuesday, arrived at Flushing Meadows the women’s 22nd seed.

The Canadian drew a formidable first-round opponent as Krejcikova is a two-time Grand Slam champion and won the Wimbledon women’s title last year.

The Czech, a former world No. 2, opened with a break and cruised to victory in one hour 23 minutes.

“Of course, I’m a little bit disappointed that I lost today, but reflecting back on it, Barbora, she’s a two-time Grand Slam champion and she has a great level,” Mboko said.

“Barbora, she has a very unique style of play. She has a lot of variation and she’s a very smart player on court. I felt like I was rushing myself a little bit and needed to take more time between points, and find a solution to kind of be at ease with myself and eventually play my game better.

“I’m always open to grow and learn from many mistakes and take this overall match as a learning opportunity.”

Mboko appeared to feel discomfort in her wrapped right wrist as she continuously shook it. She sustained a wrist injury when she fell during the semifinals of the National Bank Open.

“I had a previous injury, like, before in Montreal when I fell on it a little bit. I just taped it up for U.S. Open just to keep it stable and have it, I guess, somewhat OK for the match,” said Mboko.

“Going forward, there’s a little break until the Asia swing so I want to make sure everything is great with my fitness and how I take care of it for the next couple of days. Hopefully I’m going to be ready by then.”

She went from a world ranking of 348 in December to 24th after winning her first WTA title.

“If you told me last year I would have been seeded at the U.S. Open, or even playing the U.S. Open, I would have been so happy,” Mboko said.

“I’m happy with where I am. I feel like this is the start of a long journey, so that’s also really exciting.”

Monday’s match paused for a few minutes in the first game of the second set while Krejcikova, Mboko and officials searched for Krejcikova’s vibration dampener for her racket that had gone missing around the Czech’s chair.

“It disrupted the play a little bit, but I mean it was fine I guess,” Mboko said.

“I kind of tried to centre myself and try to focus again because it took quite a bit of time to find her dampener. I just wanted to regroup. It was a little pause in the game, but I tried to make sure I was still active and bouncing around and ready for the next point.”

Diallo advances

Later Monday night, Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo needed three hours and 19 minutes to beat Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The 31st-seeded Diallo, who committed 71 unforced errors but had 17 aces, chalked up a 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 win in his opening-round men’s singles match.

Diallo won 74 per cent of his points on first serve and only double faulted twice. He saved two of five break points and won three of nine break points. He also earned 34 per cent of his points on returns.

Diallo had 59 winners while Dzumhur had 22 to go with 40 unforced errors.

Diallo will play Jaume Munar of Spain in the next round. Munar defeated Jaime Faria of Portugal 6-0, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 on Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 25, 2025.