After Victoria Mboko had wrapped up a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Alexandra Eala — having overturned a 4-1 deficit in the third set — the young Canadian’s first thought was to praise her opponent for “playing an amazing match” in her on-court interview.
Hong Kong: Scores | Draws | Order of play
The No. 3 seed’s sportsmanship was in keeping with the tenor of her friendship with Eala, who she’s known “for even longer” than the start of their junior careers.
“She’s such a sweet girl and we have so many great memories together off the court,” Mboko said. “We’ll go and get bubble tea together, we do the most wholesome things together.”
And though Mboko acknowledged that having to play one of her closest friends on tour made the match “a little emotional,” the two rising stars were able to bring all of their competitive fire to the court for 2 hours and 27 minutes in a matchup that could be a foreshadowing of a key rivalry in the sport.
Mboko, 19, and Eala, 20, have both rocketed into the Top 100 this year after eye-catching runs at WTA 1000 events. In March, Eala defeated three Grand Slam champions — Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek — en route to the semifinals. In August, Mboko ousted four Grand Slam champions — Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Naomi Osaka — to capture the title on home soil in Montreal. This match was their first professional encounter, though they had met once in juniors, with Eala victorious 6-1, 7-6(5) in the 2022 US Open girls’ semifinals.
Through the first two sets, neither hit their best form at the same time. Eala had gained a quick 3-0 lead, only for Mboko to peg her back — but as Mboko held game point to level at 4-4, she sent a backhand wide after some phenomenal defense from Eala. The Filipina quickly pressed home her advantage to take the first set.
Mboko improved her first serve percentage from 58% to 87% in the second set — a key statistic in a set decided by a single break, with Eala sending a volley wide to give Mboko a 4-2 lead. But the start of third set saw Mboko’s serving performance dip again. She coughed up three double faults in the second game, including to concede her fourth break point. Swarming the net and hitting a sequence of flashy forehands, Eala advanced to a 4-1 lead.
With her back to the wall, Mboko found her best level of the day when she needed it. She reeled off the last five games in a row courtesy of a series of backhand winners down the line, a shot that was near-flawless in the home stretch of the match. And at 4-4, she came up with a superb defensive shot of her own to seize the key break for 5-4. Serving out the win, Mboko’s serve became a weapon once again, with an eighth ace of the day bringing up match point.
“It feels unbelievable to come back in a match like that,” Mboko said afterwards. “Alex was playing such incredible tennis, and of course the ambience in the crowd was very electric. It was very intense so I think it really pushed me more and more to fight as much as possible.”
Mboko has now reached back-to-back quarterfinals in Asia, having made that stage in Tokyo last week. She’ll next face No. 6 seed Anna Kalinskaya as she bids to make her first semifinal since Montreal.
