Canadian teen Mboko stuns top-seeded Gauff in Montreal

Victoria Mboko, of Canada, hits a return to Coco Gauff, of the US, during round of 16 action at the National Bank Open women’s tennis tournament in Montreal Saturday. (The Canadian Press via AP)
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Updated 03 August 2025
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Canadian teen Mboko stuns top-seeded Gauff in Montreal

  • The 18-year-old wild card saved all four break points she faced, and broke reigning French Open champion Gauff three times on the way to a comprehensive victory in just 62 minutes
  • Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina outlasted Dayana Yastremska 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 to book a quarterfinal clash with Marta Kostyuk

MONTREAL: Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko took down top-seeded American Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday, thrilling the home crowd as she reached the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 tournament in Montreal.

The 18-year-old wild card saved all four break points she faced, and broke reigning French Open champion Gauff three times on the way to a comprehensive victory in just 62 minutes.

Gauff, who had a combined 37 double faults as she struggled through her first two matches, was caught flat-footed as the Canadian teen raced through the first set in 25 minutes.

Gauff buckled down in the second, but she was unable to convert three break chances in the seventh game — coming up short on a drop shot and smacking a forehand into the net on the first two.

She gained anther chance only to hit a service return long, then flew a volley wide to give Mboko a game point, duly converted when Gauff fired a forehand long.

Down 15-30 in the ninth game, Mboko leveled at 30-30 with a blistering backhand, then closed out the hold for a 5-4 lead.

Serving to stay in the match, Gauff fell in a quick 0-30 hole and double-faulted to give Mboko a match point, on which the American hit a backhand into the net.

Mboko will next play either China’s Zhu Lin or Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

Zhu, once ranked as high as No. 31 in the world, has dropped to 493rd after missing the last five months of 2024 and another three months earlier this year with an elbow injury.

In early matches, former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina outlasted Dayana Yastremska 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 to book a quarterfinal clash with Marta Kostyuk.

Kazakhstan’s Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion who won her first title in more than a year at Strasbourg in May, was slowed by nine double faults.

But she ultimately had enough to get past Ukraine’s Yastremska — who was coming off a straight-sets victory over eighth-seeded American Emma Navarro.

Yastremska fell behind an early break in the first set, but took advantage of Rybakina’s early serving woes to break back, and broke again to take the opening set in a game that Rybakina had led 40-0.

Rybakina, seeded ninth, bore down after that, breaking Yastremska twice to take the second set.

Another untimely double fault cost her a break in the third, but she broke Yastremska for the second time in the set to take a 6-5 lead and held on to seal it on her fourth match point.

She’ll face another Ukrainian in Kostyuk, who came from behind to beat American McCartney Kessler 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.


Morocco part company with coach Regragui as World Cup looms

Updated 06 March 2026
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Morocco part company with coach Regragui as World Cup looms

RABAT: Morocco parted company with coach Walid Regragui on Thursday, three months before the World Cup, with the country’s football federation naming Mohamed Ouahbi as his replacement.
Regragui leaves despite having led the Atlas Lions to the World Cup semifinals in 2022 and to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations at the beginning of this year.
“I leave my post with loyalty, gratitude, and the certainty that I have served my country,” he declared during a ceremony broadcast live on television, confirming weeks of persistent rumors that he was on his way out.
Ouahbi, 49, is promoted to the role having overseen Morocco’s triumph at the Under-20 World Cup in October, with the federation describing the move as “a strategic transition” in the run-up to the World Cup in North America in June and July.
“It’s a desire not to waste time and to take a different direction,” a source close to the Moroccan Federation told AFP.
“By appointing Mohamed Ouahbi and welcoming top-tier reinforcements, we are raising our standards and our demands,” the source said.
Morocco will be in Group C at the World Cup along with five-time winners Brazil, Scotland and Haiti.
They begin their campaign against Brazil at the MetLife Stadium just outside New York City on June 13 and will be hoping to make a big impression at the tournament before co-hosting the 2030 edition with Spain and Portugal.
“Our ambition is to consolidate our place among the best nations in a sustainable way and to perform well from this summer, as well as in 2030,” the leader of the Moroccan federation, Fouzi Lekjaa, said recently.
Regragui was hailed in 2022 after Morocco became the first African nation in World Cup history to reach the semifinals, beating Spain and Portugal along the way.
However, Regragui likely paid the ultimate price for the manner in which Morocco lost the recent AFCON final to Senegal.
His team were beaten 1-0 after extra-time at the end of a match marred by the Senegal team’s decision to walk off the pitch in protest at the award of a controversial late penalty to the hosts.
The penalty award with the game goalless sparked trouble in the crowd involving Senegal fans, 18 of whom were jailed following the disruption.
Real Madrid star Brahim Diaz eventually took the penalty after a long delay but his kick was saved and Senegal went on to win the game.