Canada’s Victoria Mboko needs less than an hour to win opening match at Miami Open

Victoria Mboko, of Canada, serves against Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, during a quarterfinal match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

MIAMI — Canada’s Victoria Mboko breezed through her opening match at the Miami Open on Friday.

Mboko, the No. 10 seed from Burlington, Ont., needed only 59 minutes to complete a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Russia’s Anna Blinkova.

Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., the No. 26 seed, was scheduled to play Russia’s Oksana Selekhmeteva in the evening.

In men’s singles play, Gabriel Diallo of Montreal was scheduled to play China’s Yibing Wu in the afternoon.

Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No. 7 seed, received a first-round bye.

Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont., dropped their opening matches earlier in the week.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 20, 2026.