Canadian teen Mboko extends perfect run to reach 3rd round at French Open

The Canadian Press

· Posted: May 28, 2025 9:23 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

Toronto's Victoria Mboko extended her imagination tally astatine the French Open with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph implicit Germany's Eva Lys connected Wednesday to scope the 3rd round.

The 18-year-old Canadian hasn't dropped a acceptable done 5 matches — including 3 wins successful qualifying — and has present posted back-to-back main-draw victories astatine the circuit level for the archetypal time.

She improved her play grounds to 42-5, with astir of those wins coming connected the lower-tier ITF circuit, wherever she's captured 5 titles.

Ranked No. 120, Mboko volition adjacent look Olympic champion and eighth effect Qinwen Zheng of China.

In men's doubles, Montreal's Gabriel Diallo and British spouse Jacob Fearnley cruised into the 2nd circular with a 6-0, 6-2 triumph implicit Colombia's Nicolas Barrientos and India's Rithvik Bollipalli. Diallo is besides competing successful singles and volition look No. 35 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands successful the 2nd round.

Fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., is scheduled to look Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic successful his second-round singles lucifer connected Thursday.

Hobbled Ruud drops 2nd-round match

Clearly hampered by a atrocious near knee, two-time French Open finalist Casper Ruud dropped 13 of the past 14 games and mislaid 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0 to Nino Borges successful the 2nd round, past revealed helium had been playing successful symptom off-and-on passim the clay-court season.

The seventh-seeded Ruud reached astatine slightest the semifinals each of the past 3 years successful Paris — helium was the runner-up to Rafael Nadal successful 2022 and Novak Djokovic successful 2023 — and this exit is his earliest astatine the tourney since bowing retired successful the 2nd circular successful his debut successful 2018.

He's been taking pain-killing and anti-inflammatory pills the past respective weeks, and did truthful again Wednesday. But Ruud said the genu began bothering him successful the archetypal acceptable against Borges, who is ranked 41st and became the archetypal Portuguese antheral to get to the French Open's 3rd round.

Ruud said the worst changeable for his genu is an open-stance backhand, successful which helium slides connected his near foot, truthful he's been avoiding it successful practice.

"Certain movements retired determination are benignant of what makes it painful. Certain shots are achy to do. When you're playing matches, you can't truly power it successful the aforesaid mode [as successful practice]. You bash everything you tin to get to each ball," said Ruud, who besides reached the last astatine the 2022 U.S. Open. "Sometimes you benignant of hide that this is simply a changeable I shouldn't spell for."

He was visited by a trainer and took immoderate pills during Wednesday's match, but thing seemed to help.

"It's a Slam. I emotion this tournament," Ruud said. "Looking back, I tried my champion to proceed [and tried] to debar the shots that are hurting. But towards the end, determination were besides different movements that started hurting, truthful it wasn't ideal."

He said the problems began successful his archetypal clay lawsuit of the pre-French Open stretch, astatine Monte Carlo successful April, and that helium had aesculapian exams a mates of weeks aboriginal successful Madrid, wherever helium went connected to triumph the title. Ruud pulled retired of the Geneva Open, which was played past week.

Other results:

• Both defending champions were successful enactment astatine Court Philippe-Chatrier. Carlos Alcaraz overcame a one-set blip to decision Fabian Marozsan 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, and Iga Swiatek met 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu later.
• 2024 runner-up Jasmine Paolini and Olympic golden medallist Zheng Qinwen, portion Olympic metallic medallist and Wimbledon semifinalist Donna Vekic mislaid to unseeded American Bernarda Pera 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (10-3). Men advancing included No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti and No. 25 Alexei Popyrin.

Who is playing Thursday?

The 2nd circular concludes with 24-time large champion Novak Djokovic taking connected France's Corentin Moutet successful Court Suzanne-Lenglen successful a lucifer that could diagnostic a raucous atmosphere.

French fans are apt to marque a batch of sound astatine Court Philippe-Chatrier, too, due to the fact that different 1 of their own, Richard Gasquet, could beryllium playing the last lucifer of his vocation erstwhile helium takes connected No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

At nighttime successful Chatrier, No. 5 Jack Draper of Britain takes connected yet different French veteran, Gael Monfils. No. 2-seeded Coco Gauff, against Tereza Valentova, and No. 3 Jessica Pegula, against Ann Li successful an all-American match, are among the apical women successful action, on with No. 6 Mirra Andreeva against Ashlyn Krueger of the United States.