Last year, Victoria Mboko won her first WTA 250 and WTA 1000-level titles in a breakthrough season that culminated in her being named the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz Newcomer of the Year. In just the second week of this year, she’ll have the chance to add a WTA 500 to that rapidly-expanding trophy case.
Adelaide: Scores | Draws | Order of play
The 19-year-old Canadian needed just 59 minutes on Thursday to end the run of Australian wild card Kimberly Birrell, 6-2, 6-1 and reach the final of the Adelaide International. After playing three sets in each of her first three matches — including a win over defending champion and reigning Australian Open winner Madison Keys in the final eight — Mboko used her impressive ball-striking to overwhelm Birrell, whom she also defeated on her way to the title in Montreal last summer.
From 2-1 down in the first set, after the Aussie impressively stayed ahead by erasing the match’s first break point, Mboko won nine straight games. She hit 22 winners, including eight aces, to Birrell’s seven and broke serve five times in seven opportunities. She faced just one break point against her serve in the match, when she was already ahead 6-2, 4-1.
Mboko said that her battle-tested start to the tournament — she first came from a set down to beat Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first round, and saved match points against Anna Kalinskaya in the second — played her into the form she showed in the match.
“We had a lot of good exchange of rallies,” she said. “I feel like I was able to kind of stay in with her in terms of pace. We had a lot of rallies where we were running a lot and trying to stay neck and neck at the baseline.
“I think having those kind of rallies and points can help me in other matches when it comes to those points. I think it just gives me a confidence overall.”
In the final, Mboko will face No. 3 seed Mirra Andreeva, who defeated former doubles partner Diana Shnaider with ease 6-3, 6-2 in the second semifinal.
