PARIS — Canadian teen Victoria Mboko’s breakthrough Grand Slam run came to an end Friday at the French Open.
The 18-year-old from Toronto was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by No. 8 seed Zheng Qinwen of China in third-round action at Roland Garros.
Mboko, ranked No. 333 at the start of the year, had surged into the spotlight with three straight wins in qualifying and two more in the main draw — all in straight sets — before running into Zheng, an Australian Open finalist who won Olympic gold in singles last summer on these same Paris clay courts.
Zheng won 70 per cent of her first-serve points and saved six of eight break points.
Mboko was broken four times and won only 38 per cent of her second-serve points.
Still, it was a major step forward for Mboko in her Grand Slam main-draw debut. She’ll officially enter the WTA’s top 100 when the tournament wraps.
Later Friday, Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., and Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva fell 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 to Slovakia's Tereza Mihalíková and Great Britain's Olivia Nicholls.
Fernandez and Putintseva converted six of nine break chances but managed to save just one of six against them in the second-round women's doubles match.
Montreal's Gabriel Diallo and Great Britain's Jacob Fearnley lost in second-round men's doubles action.
The pair fell 6-2, 6-3 to second-seeded Henry Patten of Great Britain and Harri Heliovaara of Finland.
Patten and Heliovaara committed just six unforced errors to Diallo and Fearnley’s 16, converted four of six break-point chances and saved both of their opponents'.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2025.
The Canadian Press
