Toronto teen Victoria Mboko breaks through to French Open main draw

Teen off to main draw

Photo: The Canadian Press

PARIS — Victoria Mboko’s breakout season just hit another gear.

The 18-year-old from Toronto powered her way into the French Open main draw Friday, beating Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan 7-5, 6-3 in the final round of qualifying.

The tennis world is taking notice of the Canadian, who’s racked up 40 wins in 45 matches this year — mostly on the lower-tier ITF circuit — with five titles and eye-catching appearances at WTA events in Miami and Rome, where she took a set off world No. 2 Coco Gauff.

“I never even thought I was going to be playing a major so soon. Even like at the beginning of the year, I was ranked in the 300s," she said. "It’s just fate and everyone is working hard to this goal.”

Now ranked No. 122 in the world, Mboko didn’t drop a set in qualifying and said a key to her success was staying calm.

“I actually didn’t really feel that nervous before the match. I feel like I’ve been playing a lot of matches the past couple of months, so today was honestly just another match for me — like the second or third round of another tournament or like a 50K (ITF event). I tricked my brain into making it seem like it’s not a big deal.”

She opens main-draw play Sunday against No. 45 Lulu Sun of New Zealand.

Mboko is one of five Canadians in singles at Roland-Garros, joining Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., in the women’s draw, and Félix Auger-Aliassime, Gabriel Diallo and Denis Shapovalov on the men’s side.

Fernandez, ranked 27th in the world, opens against No. 34 Olga Danilovic of Serbia.

Shapovalov, ranked 27th on the men's side, opens against No. 48 Pedro Martinez of Spain. No. 29 Auger-Aliassime faces No. 39 Matteo Arnaldi of Italy, and Diallo, ranked 53rd, faces No. 18 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.

Auger-Aliassime's French Open tune-up came to an end Friday with a 6-1, 6-4 loss to Andrey Rublev in the semifinals of the Hamburg Open. The loss dropped Auger-Aliassime's record against the Russian to 1-7.

Still, getting in four competitive matches on clay at the ATP 500 event will help after Auger-Aliassime pulled out of the Italian Open earlier this month with a sore back.

Auger-Aliassime's three wins in Hamburg were his first on clay this season. He hadn't won on tour since a second-round victory in Miami back in March.

Fernandez and Diallo will also compete in doubles, while Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski teams up with New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe in women’s doubles.

Rob Shaw of North Bay, Ont., received a wild card into the wheelchair quad singles and doubles draws.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2025.