Mboko advances to second round of French Open qualifying tournament

Canada's Victoria Mboko hits a return to United States' Coco Gauff during the Italian Open tennis tournament, Friday, May 9, 2025, in Rome. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

PARIS — Rising tennis star Victoria Mboko moved a step closer to qualifying for her first career Grand Slam main draw with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Austria’s Sinja Kraus on Tuesday.

The 18-year-old from Toronto fired five aces on the clay courts of Roland Garros while winning 79 per cent of first-serve points to advance to the second round of the three-round qualifying tournament.

Mboko finished the match with a break — her fifth in seven chances. She had a break-point chance in six of her nine return games.

She will next face Kathinka von Deichmann of Liechtenstein on Thursday. Von Deichmann advanced with a 6-1, 6-0 win over seventh seed Rebecca Marino of Vancouver.

Mboko improved her record this season to 38-5, with most of her wins coming on the lower-tier ITF World Tennis Tour circuit.

She is coming off a runner-up performance at last week’s WTA 125 Parma Ladies Open.

Mboko, who entered the tournament ranked No. 122 in the world, was the only Canadian to advance in qualifying Tuesday.

Romania’s Patricia Tig downed Kayla Cross of London, Ont., 6-4, 6-2, in another women’s first-round match. In men’s qualifying, Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont., fell 6-2, 6-2 to Austria’s Flilp Misolic.

Mboko joins 17th seed Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., 24th seed Marina Stakusic, also of Mississauga, and Carson Branstine, a Californian who represents Canada internationally, in the second round of qualifying.

Andreescu faces Japan’s Nao Hibino, Stakusic plays Tamara Korpatsch of Germany and Branstine meets 10th seed Rebeka Masarova of Switzerland on Wednesday.

Also Tuesday, top seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand advanced to the semifinal of the Internationaux de Strasbourg with a 6-4, 2-6, 10-8 win over Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Xu Yifan. Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face Luisa Stefani of Brazil and Timea Babos of Hungary on Thursday.

Later Tuesday, sixth-seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal defeated Germany’s David Altmaier 6-3, 6-3 in the opening round of the Hamburg Open.

It’s Auger-Aliassime’s first career win over Altmaier in three matches. He will next face Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2025.