Victoria Mboko came through a marathon match against Mirra Andreeva on Wednesday to advance at the Qatar Open.
The Canadian star, who recently played doubles with Coco Gauff, maintained her composure to defeat 18-year-old Andreeva 6-3, 3-6, 7-6.
After a breakout 2025 season on the Tour, which included title wins in Canada and Hong Kong, Mboko has continued to prove why she is one of the most exciting young prospects on the WTA Tour.
The 19-year-old seems destined to be a future Grand Slam winner, and her latest victory against Andreeva only strengthened this argument.
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Andreeva, who achieved world number five status last year, has long been considered the best young player on the Tour, ahead of Mboko, Iva Jovic and Alexandra Eala.
However, that argument must be reconsidered following Mboko’s victory on Wednesday.
Victoria Mboko is now the best young player on the WTA Tour
When making this argument, one must consider the achievements of Mirra Andreeva.
At only 18-years-old, Andreeva is already a two-time WTA 1000 champion and a Grand Slam semi-finalist.
However, over the past six to eight months, Mboko has outshone Andreeva.
While Andreeva has struggled to maintain consistency on her forehand, Mboko does not seem to have a weakness.
Mboko has an excellent serve, top-tier groundstrokes and a satisfactory net game: all of which have made her one of the winningest players since the Canadian Open.
Mboko’s victory over Andreeva on Wednesday marked her 36th WTA Tour win since capturing her first title in Montreal.
Only Elena Rybakina – the 2025 WTA Finals and 2026 Australian Open champion – has recorded more WTA Tour wins over that period.
Of course, one cannot make this argument without acknowledging their head-to-head record. Andreeva comfortably defeated Mboko 6-3, 6-1 at the 2026 Adelaide Open – a month before Mboko’s triumph in Qatar.
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Andreeva is a special talent, and a future Grand Slam champion. However, Mboko has the more consistent game as things currently lie; and when she is in full flow, there are very few – if any – players who can halt her progress.
After defeating Andreeva on Wednesday, Mboko said: “I didn’t really have a specific tactic against her.
“But I know she slices really well, and she hits really low. I think she forced me to hit those [slices and spins]. She covers the court really well, so I think for me it was just trying to find the little window to open the court. Yeah, I just found myself hitting those kinds of shots because that’s all I felt I could do.”
“I feel like I came out with some very clutch shots at the end
“I think we both were pretty tired when it came to the tiebreak. I think I felt like I was lucky enough to have some good shots in the great moments.”
Mboko’s path to the Qatar Open title
Mboko will play Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals, whom she has a 1-2 record against. The Canadian’s only victory against Rybakina occurred during her run to the 2025 Canadian Open title.
If she defeats Rybakina for a second time, the Canadian will face Jelena Ostapenko or Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the semi-finals.
If Mboko advances to the championship match, she will likely play Iga Swiatek or Karolina Muchova.
A title win for Mboko would increase her WTA points total to 3,595. This total would see her become the new world number nine.
