The 18-year-old Canadian, who defeated two-time major champion Coco Gauff in the fourth round, once again produced a home performance to remember with a 6-4, 6-2 victory in Montreal.
It will be 85th-ranked Mboko’s first WTA 1000-level semi-final against ninth seed 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. I’m so happy to be in the semi-final here,” Mboko, ranked 85th, said in her post-match interview.
“My inaugural experience competing in Montreal has been out of this world, and I couldn’t be more thankful. Mboko began the year as the No. 333-ranked player in the world, and will break into the top 50 with a re-ranking next week.
Following a season-opening 22-match winning streak during which she won five titles on the second-tier ITF Tour, she made her WTA Tour debut in March. She made her debut in a Grand Slam event and impressed, getting to the third round at the French Open before defeating 25th seed Magdalena Frech in the first round at Wimbledon a month later.
Mboko is the first Canadian to make it to the semi-finals of the tournament since Bianca Andreescu defeated the field in 2019 and is the youngest woman since Belinda Bencic in 2015 to make it to the last four.
Rybakina, who beat Mboko in the second round of last month’s Washington Open, made it to the semi-finals when Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk had to retire due to a wrist injury with the score 6-1, 2-1 against her.
In the men’s tournament, held in Toronto, Alexander Zverev came back from a set down to defeat defending champion Alexei Popyrin 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 6-3. The 28-year-old German is in his 75th ATP Tour semi-final, making him the sole active men’s player to reach that number along with Novak Djokovic.
He will play Russian Karen Khachanov, who pasted the United States’ Alex Michelsen 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). Djokovic’s withdrawal was confirmed by the Cincinnati Open for “non-medical” reasons from the tournament, which opens on Thursday.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner, who is not participating in Toronto due to a groin injury, last competed when losing to Jannik Sinner during the semi-finals of Wimbledon. The 38-year-old won’t play before the US Open, starting 24 August.
