PARIS 鈥� Canadian teen Victoria Mboko earned her first career Grand Slam victory with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) opening-round win over New Zealand's Lulu Sun on Sunday at the French Open.
The 18-year-old from Toronto has now won all eight sets she鈥檚 played over the past week-plus on the clay courts of Roland-Garros 鈥� including six in a trio of victories in the qualifying rounds.
Mboko arrived in Paris with a 37-5 season record across all levels.
鈥淚'm happy I experienced it in the juniors so that it kind of prepared me for the professional level," she said after the match. 鈥淭he whole thing is honestly kind of a surprise. Now I'm here, I feel like I can do something with it and make the most of it.
鈥淚t's obviously nice to have a lot of people coming to my match and supporting鈥� But the higher level I play, the more people are going to come. I'm pretty used to it now. It's honestly great.鈥�
Mboko broke on two of her three opportunities while saving all seven of her opponents' break-point chances.
Sun, a 2024 Wimbledon quarterfinalist, outdid the teen with seven aces and won 80 per cent of her first-serve points. However, Sun had 32 forced errors compared to Mboko's 20.
Mboko will next take on world No.59 Eva Lys of Germany.
Later Sunday, Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., dropped her first-round match against Serbia's Olga Danilovic 6-3, 6-1.
The 22-year-old Fernandez surrendered five break points on the nine chances Danilovic had, while breaking once on two opportunities herself.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 25, 2025.
The Canadian Press
