The quest for the No. 2 spot on the WTA rankings took an unexpected turn at the Canadian Open, where both Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff were eliminated in the fourth round. Gauff, the top seed, suffered a surprising defeat to 18-year-old wildcard Victoria Mboko, losing 6-1, 6-4 and ending her tournament run abruptly. Swiatek, trailing Gauff by 856 points in third place with 6,813 points compared to Gauff’s 7,789, had a chance to surpass the American by claiming the title, which would have boosted her to 7,813 points. However, her campaign ended when Clara Tauson stopped her with a 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 win in the same round.

Swiatek was favored entering the match given her nine-match winning streak and three prior victories over Tauson, including a July clash at Wimbledon. Tauson reflected, “I just felt like after I won the first set that I needed to continue, because I know she’s never going to give up, and she’s going to come out firing no matter what,” adding, “I think obviously getting a win against her after losing to her in Wimbledon and a couple of weeks ago is obviously nice, because I was not feeling great in that match, and I felt like I was playing some good tennis in Wimbledon. So I felt like if I could keep that going, I thought I had a shot.”

Aryna Sabalenka remains comfortably atop the rankings with 12,225 points, well ahead of her rivals. Looking ahead, Swiatek faces a challenging opportunity to close the gap at the Cincinnati Open, where she will start the tournament 846 points behind Gauff due to point defenses. Notably, Swiatek has no points to defend from last year after her 390-point semifinal result was annulled following a positive test for a banned substance. She requires a tournament victory paired with an early exit from Gauff to reclaim the No. 2 ranking. Swiatek acknowledged the challenge on hard courts after grass season, stating, “I still feel like I kind of need to transition on hard courts. And these matches are also kind of to learn again. I feel like I did kind of the same mistakes I did at the end of my hard court season in March.”

Taylor Fritz has achieved a milestone no American male player has reached in the ATP Masters 1000 series since its 2009 expansion. The world No. 4 secured a hard-fought victory over Jiri Lehecka in the third round of the 2025 Canadian Open, becoming the first player from outside Europe to reach the quarterfinals of all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments.

Fritz, seeded second, battled through a tense, high-quality contest against Lehecka that lasted nearly three hours. The match featured no breaks of serve, with Fritz eventually prevailing 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), saving nine break points to his Czech opponent’s five.

Despite the absence of several top players, including Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and Novak Djokovic, Fritz has emerged as a standout performer in the tournament. Before this run, he had never advanced beyond the third round at this Masters event, but now he stands three wins away from the title.

His achievement places him alongside greats like Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, and Alcaraz, all Europeans who have reached the quarterfinals of all nine events since the series was expanded. Notably, Sinner has yet to reach the Paris Masters quarterfinals.

Fritz has previously made quarterfinals multiple times at Indian Wells (2021, 2022, 2023), Miami (2023, 2025), Monte Carlo (2022, 2023), Cincinnati (2022, 2023), Madrid (2024), Rome (2024), Shanghai (2024), and Paris (2021).

“Making all the Masters quarters is really cool,” Fritz said. “It shows consistency. Today I had to accept that parts of my game were just not there. I was bailed out by a lot of first serves, but I was making too many mistakes.”

Among American players, the challenge of this feat is underscored by the fact that the addition of the Shanghai Masters post-dated players like Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, who never reached quarterfinals in Monte Carlo, while Andy Roddick never made the Monte Carlo quarters either.

Fritz’s next test comes against sixth seed Andrey Rublev for a place in the semifinals. His win also earned him 150 ATP points, moving him closer to the third spot in the rankings behind Zverev, though overtaking him this week is mathematically impossible.

The American’s focus will soon shift to the US Open, where he must defend 1300 points after finishing runner-up in 2024.

Victoria Mboko’s remarkable 6-1, 6-4 victory over top seed Coco Gauff at the 2025 Canadian Open places her among the youngest women to beat a No. 1 seed at a WTA 1000 tournament. At 18 years and 335 days old, the Canadian wildcard claimed a significant upset in the fourth round. Reflecting on the match, Mboko said, “Coming into the match, I was so locked in. I tried to keep my composure as much as I could, especially playing in front of so many people. This is a very special experience for me.”

Mboko’s path to the fourth round included wins over Kimberly Birrell (7-5, 6-3), Sofia Kenin (6-2, 6-3), and Marie Bouzkova (1-6, 6-3, 6-0). Her achievement makes her fifth on the list of youngest players to topple the WTA 1000 top seed since the category’s establishment in 2009.

Kai-Chen Chang tops this list as she beat Dinara Safina at 18 years and 258 days during the 2009 Pan Pacific Open. Belinda Bencic ranks third, defeating Serena Williams at the 2015 Canadian Open at the age of 18 years and 153 days, en route to her first WTA 1000 title. Mirra Andreeva, at just 17 years and 310 days, triumphed over Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the 2025 Indian Wells Masters, clinching the title while overcoming several top-ranked players.

Coco Gauff holds the record as the youngest to defeat a No. 1 seed in a WTA 1000 event, beating Ashleigh Barty at 17 years and 58 days old in the 2021 Italian Open quarter-finals. Gauff, currently ranked world No. 2, remains a formidable presence on tour.

Mboko’s milestone victory highlights a promising new generation making waves in women’s tennis, continuing a tradition of youthful breakthroughs at the highest level of WTA competition.