Victoria Mboko continued her rapid ascent on the WTA tour with a composed 6-3, 6-2 win over two-time finalist Jelena Osapenko, advancing to her second WTA 1000 final in six months and securing a debut in the Top 10. The 19-year-old Canadian, who is the reigning Omnium Banque Nationale champion, has combined form and fitness in a breakout start to 2026.

Q. You are still so young, but I’m assuming that you have gone through ups and downs already. So if you had to pick one specific tournament or match, or like an important decision, switching coaches or changing the practice environment, which one do you say that was sort of the turning point of your career?

VICTORIA MBOKO: I mean, I wouldn’t say there is a significant turning point. Last year I just wanted to start off playing a lot of lower-tier tournaments. I mean, of course my ranking wasn’t helping me getting into higher tournaments.

I think in the past I struggled with a lot of injuries as a junior, and I wasn’t able to play that many tournaments. I think in two years I only, I didn’t play that many matches.

So my goal for last year was just to play a lot of tournaments, collect rhythm, get a lot of matches under my belt, and slowly try to do better the next week. Little did I know that I was playing in the WTA events sooner than I thought. I tried to capitalize on how many matches and tournaments I played to my advantage. I think gradually throughout the year, especially last year, trying to find my footing helped me a lot, and made me gain a lot of confidence within myself and with my game.

Mboko has been in excellent form since the start of the season, reaching the final at the Adelaide International and the fourth round at the Australian Open. In her Doha run she produced back-to-back Top 10 victories over Mirra Andreeva and Elena Rybakina, the latter coming fresh off a title run at the Australian Open. Her performances have underlined a consistency that had been interrupted by injuries during her junior years.

Awaiting Mboko in the final will be either Maria Sakkari or Karolina Muchova. “I don’t really know either of their games that well,” admitted Mboko. “They made it this far, so I know they’re playing pretty good tennis. Yeah, I don’t want to change something up because what I’ve been doing has been working so far.”

Victoria Mboko continued a rapid rise by reaching the final of the WTA 1000 event in Doha, a result that will lift her into the WTA Top 10 when the rankings are updated on Monday. Mboko secured her place in the title match by defeating Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinal.

The 19-year-old is projected to move from No. 13 to at least No. 10 following the tournament. A tournament victory would push her higher than that projected position.

Her arrival in the Top 10 will mark a milestone for Canadian women in the rankings: she is set to become the fourth Canadian woman to reach the WTA Top 10 since the rankings began in 1975.

The broader context for Canadian tennis includes three men who have reached the ATP Top 10: Milos Raonic, who reached a career-high of No. 3 in 2013; Denis Shapovalov, who climbed to No. 10 in 2020; and Felix Auger-Aliassime, who reached No. 5 in 2021. Combining both tours, seven Canadians have now reached the Top 10 in either ATP or WTA history.

Among those seven, Mboko will be the third-youngest to accomplish the feat. She is 19, behind Bassett-Seguso, who was 17, and Bianca Andreescu, who became a Top 10 player at a slightly younger 19. The remaining four Canadians reached the Top 10 in their early 20s.

Mboko’s Doha run adds another chapter to a breakthrough period that gathered pace last summer and has accelerated through this season. With the rankings set to reflect her Doha result, she will enter the Top 10 for the first time when the official list is released on Monday.

Elena Rybakina reflected positively after a narrow quarterfinal loss at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open, her first tournament since claiming a second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. The No. 2 seed fell to Victoria Mboko in a deciding set, 7-4, 4-6, 6-4, ending her run in the first WTA 1000 event of the season.

Rybakina had been in position to move in the WTA rankings after a quarterfinal exit by top seed Iga Swiatek earlier in the evening, but the Canadian teenager staged a comeback that leveled their head-to-head at two wins each. The week included a demanding three-set match against Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the previous round, which Rybakina said tested her endurance.

Q. Did you feel you had recovered from yesterday’s match? Because you had a tough one against Qinwen [Zheng].

ELENA RYBAKINA: “It was a tough match and I’m actually happy that I managed to give this fight. I hadn’t played such long matches in a long time. In Australia, we always had a day in between and I was playing all the matches in two sets except for the final. I think it was still a good tournament for me. I had to do some stuff outside of the court. I think it’s a good preparation, even for the other tournaments.”

Despite the loss, Rybakina emphasized the positives from a hard-fought week and framed the Doha event as useful preparation for the months ahead. She also made clear her ambitions for the season remain high.

Q. If you could win another Grand Slam this year, would you rather win Wimbledon again or one of the other two?

ELENA RYBAKINA: “All of them! (laughs) There is nothing to choose. It doesn’t matter which Grand Slam. But that’s the goal.”