“I don't think it's fair”: Coco Gauff shuts down comparison with Victoria Mboko after Canadian Open defeat

Canada’s Victoria Mboko continues to shine bright as she secured the biggest win of her short career. The 18-year-old defeated current world number two and top-seed Coco Gauff in the fourth round of the National Bank Open in Montreal in straight sets with a score of 6-1, 6-4.

The game lasted just over an hour, where Mboko showcased her talent and cemented a spot in the quarterfinals of the ongoing WTA 1000 event. During the match, Mboko broke the serve of a two-time Grand Slam winner on four occasions. In comparison, Gauff did not manage to break Mboko’s service once in the match.

Gauff spoke to the media after the match and was asked about the comparison between herself and Mboko because of how the two players started brightly at a young age and belong to the American region as well. In response to that, Gauff was quick to dismiss that comparison and stated that she is never in favour of having such comparisons between two different players. Gauff stated that she opposed the idea when she was compared to the likes of Serena and Venus Williams. Gauff was of the opinion that Mboko has once again shown that she has a ‘bright future’ ahead of her.

"No, she's a completely different player, completely different person,” she said. “I've never been one to compare myself to others, whether it be like people comparing me to Serena or Venus, and I don't think it's fair to put that on her as well. Yeah, but I do see someone who is going to have a really bright future, for sure."

Talking after the match, Mboko was understandably ecstatic and thanked the fans for showing her incredible support during a home event. “It’s incredible,” said Mboko. “I’m so happy to beat such a great champion. Every day they've been coming to all my matches and supporting me a lot. I couldn't be more grateful. I've never really had so many people cheering for me in a tournament, especially a WTA tournament. This is kind of the only tournament Canada has, WTA tournament. To have that kind of support at a tournament like this, it's amazing. I couldn't be more grateful, and I think it's so cool that so many Canadians get to come and support me.”

Before coming into the match, Gauff was struggling with her serve as she committed as many as 37 double faults in the first two matches. On Saturday, however, Gauff was far more disciplined as she only made five double faults in the match. Mboko was asked about during the press talk about her thinking regarding Gauff’s service struggle before the match. In response to that, Mboko stated that she did not pay much attention to that as her focus was to play her best tennis and secure a positive result.

“Well, I mean, nothing really crosses my mind just because, I mean, that's the game,” said Mboko. “People make errors. It happens. I make errors too. So I was just really focused on myself and what I had to do. I didn't really focus as much as what she was doing in the match because I just wanted to play as solid of a game as I possibly could. I just wanted to do what I was supposed to do in the match and hope for the best.”

Mboko’s next opponent will be Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. The 22-year-old cemented a spot in her first-ever WTA 1000 event quarterfinal after beating China’s Zhu Lin in the round of 16 with a score of 7-5, 1-6, 6-2. It will be the first-ever meeting between the players in professional tennis.