“My first-ever midnight match” – 18-year-old Canadian sensation Victoria Mboko basks in glory after reaching Canadian Open 3R with stunning win

Victoria Mboko shared her experience of playing a midnight match for the first time as she defeated American Sofia Kenin in the National Bank Open second round. The teenager, who made her top 100 breakthrough in June this year, will face Marie Bouzkova in the second round.

Mboko, 18, made her WTA Tour main-draw debut in the doubles at the 2022 Canadian Open. She earned her first singles title at the ITF W25 tournament in Saskatoon the same year and defended it the following year. This year, her stellar performances have led to a 46-9 win-loss record, and she even made multiple tournament debuts.

Mboko faced the reigning Roland Garros champion, Coco Gauff, in the Italian Open second round. She won the first set but succumbed in the following sets. She advanced to her first main draw at the French Open, becoming the third teenager in the top 100.

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Now, having kicked off her National Bank Open campaign, the Canadian shared her experience of playing in a midnight match for the first time in the post-match press conference.

"Yeah, so this was my first-ever I think midnight match. I think it's midnight right now, but yeah, I think this is probably the latest match I've played in my life, so that's a new experience for me."

She also detailed how she spent her day before taking the court at night.

"Throughout the day I kind of -- I had a very long day, and my coaches kind of prepared a little plan for me to take a nap in the middle of the day. I came to train a little bit early, do some fitness. I practiced a little bit later, but I kind of stayed at the hotel a little bit to sleep a lot to prepare for tonight."

Mboko is at No. 85 in the WTA rankings, behind British player Francesca Jones.

Victoria Mboko expressed her wish to play against Coco Gauff after the Rome match-up

Victoria Mboko made it to the Wimbledon second round, besides winning matches at the Italian Open and French Open. She also won five ITF titles this year and has advanced to the Round of 32 of the ongoing Canadian Open. In the post-match conference, she expressed that she would love playing against a promising player like Gauff after their Rome encounter.

"I mean it’d be really fun to play Coco again. The last time I played her was in Rome and it was a very difficult match for me. But, you know, she’s an amazing player and to play great players like her it’s always a great opportunity, it’s always a lot of fun for me. So to face against her would be really, really nice again and I mean, hopefully that could happen.”

Victoria Mboko walked in the footsteps of her siblings, all of whom have played tennis.

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Agnijeeta Majumder

Agnijeeta is a US Olympics journalist at Sportskeeda. She holds a Master’s degree in English and has worked as a school teacher, a blogger, a content writer and a sports writer over the past 5 years. A lover of high-adrenaline track and field events, she was also a sprinter during her school days.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone happens to be her favorite Olympian, and the athlete’s feat of breaking four records within 13 months inspires her, apart from the American's body language on and off the track. Grant Hackett swimming with a partially dysfunctional lung and winning gold in Athens is her all-time favorite Olympic moment.

Agnijeeta believes that deriving of unique angles from podcasts and interviews carried out by Olympics.com, along with hype-building of potential Olympic events on social media can help fill the coverage gap during the off season.

When not at her work desk, Agnijeeta likes to sing and paint. She also plays string instruments like guitar and ukulele and is an avid player of word puzzles.

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