PREVIEW WTA Hong Kong Open: Teenage star Victoria Mboko takes on surprise finalist Bucsa

The WTA 250 Hong Kong Open final—one of the tournaments concluding the season—will be disputed this Sunday, featuring the return of teenager Victoria Mboko to a WTA final, following her impressive title campaign at the WTA 1000 Canadian Open. This time, the 19-year-old young star will face the surprising Cristina Bucsa, who is competing in her first WTA-level final.

The final Asian swing tournaments always offer opportunities, especially since several players opt to end their season a bit early. Those who took advantage this week were Mboko and Bucsa, who will see a significant boost in their rankings to close the season.

Victoria Mboko (No. 21) began making a name for herself this year by winning titles in smaller tournaments: three W35s and two W75s, plus a WTA 125 Open final, allowing for incredible progress—moving from World No. 337 at the beginning of the year to entering the Top 100 mid-season. However, her breakout came with her epic campaign at the Canadian Open, where she received a wildcard and won an unprecedented WTA 1000 title, defeating rivals like Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, and Naomi Osaka in the final.

Mboko struggled to maintain the rhythm after the title in Montreal. She had to quickly adapt to the WTA Tour level and suffered up to four consecutive first-round defeats after her appearance in Canada. She only returned to victory last week in Tokyo—reaching the quarter-finals—and this week she signs another strong campaign, defeating several tough rivals along the way.

Mboko overcame Talia Gibson, Alexandra Eala, Anna Kalinskaya (6th), and in the semi-finals, she won the all-Canadian clash against Leylah Fernandez. The teenager secured her best-ever ranking at World No. 18—which will not change even if she wins the title.

Spaniard Cristina Bucsa (No. 68) had a great week in Hong Kong, a mix of strong performances—and perhaps some fortune as well. The Spaniard comfortably won in the early rounds against YeXin Ma (6-1, 6-2) and 8th seed Emiliana Arango (6-2, 6-4). She was scheduled to face top seed Belinda Bencic in the quarter-finals, but the Swiss ultimately withdrew due to injury—giving Bucsa passage to her first WTA semi-final of the season. There, she met the complicated Maya Joint (5th), but it was the Spaniard who took a dominant victory 6-3, 6-1, taking just 57 minutes, winning 88% of points on her first serve and conceding no break points to her opponent.

Bucsa has already achieved a 15-position jump in the WTA ranking and secured her historical best ranking at World No. 53. She is one step away from entering the Top 50 for the first time in her career, and if she defeats Mboko, she will be positioned at No. 47 in the WTA Ranking. The 27-year-old star re-entered the Top 100 only mid-year and achieved her best performance at a major in the recent US Open when she reached the quarter-finals and was eliminated by the eventual tournament champion, Aryna Sabalenka.

Mboko and Bucsa do not yet have any recorded main draw encounters at the WTA level, although they met earlier this season for the first time. Despite the few tournaments Mboko has played at the WTA level, she already has one previous encounter against Bucsa this year, in the clay-courts of the Rome Open qualifiers, where the Canadian won 6-3, 6-2 against the 17th seed of the qualifying draw.