Canadian teen Mboko through to second round at Citi Open with win over Potapova

By Canadian Press on July 21, 2025.

WASHINGTON — Canadian wild-card Victoria Mboko came back from a break down in the second set to post a 6-2, 6-4 win over Russia’s Anastasia Potapova in first-round action Monday at the Citi Open hardcourt tennis tournament.

Mboko, a 19-year-old from Toronto, won 62.7 per cent of total service points compared to 50 per cent for Potapova.

The Canadian had 13 break point chances against Potapova and converted five of them, the last coming in the deciding game. Potapova scored two breaks on six chances.

Mboko, who entered Washington with a career-high ranking of 86, will next face No. 12 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan at the WTA 500 tournament.

Mboko, who has played both at the WTA Tour level and on the lower-tier ITF World Tennis Tour circuit this year, improved her record this season to 46-8.

She posted her fourth win of the season against a top-50 opponent as she prepares for her main-draw debut at the upcoming WTA 1000-level National Bank Open in Montreal.

Later Monday, Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., faced Australia’s Maya Joint. In first-round doubles action, Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., was set to team with Clervie Ngounoue of the United States in a match against the American duo of Venus Williams and Hailey Baptiste.

The 31-year-old Bouchard, a former world No. 5 and a Wimbledon finalist in 2014, is playing in her second-last tournament after announcing last week that she will retire after the National Bank Open.

The 45-year-old Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, is starting a comeback after more than a year away from tennis.