Victoria Mboko booked her place in the Qatar Open second round with a hard-fought win over Mirra Andreeva on Wednesday.
The Canadian, fresh off a doubles appearance alongside Coco Gauff, kept her nerve to come through against the 18-year-old 6-3, 3-6, 7-6.
Mboko was one of the Tour’s breakthrough stars in 2025. Title runs in both Canada and Hong Kong put her on the map as a rising force to watch. Since then, she’s continued to show why so many are high on her future prospects.
The latest win will only strengthen that belief. At just 19, Mboko looks every bit like a future Grand Slam champion in the making.
Andreeva had established herself as the top young player on tour ahead of Mboko, Iva Jovic and Alexandra Eala. But that case is tougher to make after Wednesday’s result.
Why Victoria Mboko may be surpassing Mirra Andreeva
If you want to make that case, it’s hard to ignore what Mirra Andreeva has already done. She’s an 18-year-old with two WTA 1000 titles and a Grand Slam semi-final appearance.
But over the past six to eight months, Mboko has edged ahead. While Andreeva is still figuring out her forehand, Mboko looks like she doesn’t have a real weakness.
Her serve is reliable, her groundstrokes are sharp, and she holds her own at the net. Since winning her first title in Montreal, Mboko has picked up 36 wins on tour.
The only player ahead of her in that span is Elena Rybakina – who also won the 2025 WTA Finals and the 2026 Australian Open during that period.
If you want to dig into their head-to-head record, though, Andreeva did beat Mboko comfortably in Adelaide this year, just before Mboko found form in Qatar.
Andreeva should be considered special too – a future Grand Slam champion. Right now though, while not as dynamic or creative as Andreeva – who draws inspiration from Ash Barty – there isn’t anyone else on Tour whose game is so consistently effective as Mboko’s.
Speaking after the match on Wednesday against Adreeva: “I didn’t really have a specific tactic against her,” said during an interview after Wednesday’s match in Qatar.
“I know she slices really well and hits very low, so I was forced into hitting more slices and using spin shots. She covers the court extremely well, so I had to try find small openings.”
What Mboko’s road to the Qatar Open title looks like
Mboko is set to face Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals, holding a 1-2 record against her. The Canadian’s only win came during her title run at the 2025 Canadian Open.
Should Mboko get past Rybakina, she would meet either Jelena Ostapenko or Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the semi-finals. Both players have shown strong form recently and would present a tough challenge.
If she reaches the final, Iga Swiatek or Karolina Muchova could be waiting on the other side of the net. Both have had strong seasons and would present significant challenges.
A title win in Qatar would lift Mboko’s WTA ranking points total to 3,595, pushing her up to world number nine.
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