"I knew she was a formidable opponent," Rybakina says about Mboko

© AFP

Adrien Guyot

le 07/08/2025 à 10h58

2 min to read

Mboko Montréal Rybakina

Elena Rybakina will not compete in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Montreal. The Kazakh player had a strong start against Canadian rising star Victoria Mboko but ultimately lost after a hard-fought battle (1-6, 7-5, 7-6), despite having a match point.

Just days after defeating the 18-year-old in Washington, Rybakina this time fell to Mboko and was asked about her during the press conference in the Quebec city.

"Of course, I knew she was a formidable opponent. It’s often the case with certain players who just need a few minutes to adjust to your shots and your playing style.

I felt like in the first set, every game was tight, so I didn’t start in the best way, and then things started turning in her favor.

I think she served really well in the key moments. On my end, I didn’t land enough first serves on crucial points, which didn’t give me enough confidence to start rallies on my serve—especially since I like to dictate play whenever I can. I’d say that was the biggest weakness in my game today.

Overall, it was a match decided by small details, a real battle. It could have gone my way, but it didn’t. She played really well.

We faced each other in Washington—I don’t think there were huge changes in her game from one week to the next—but the conditions were different, and it wasn’t the same stage of the tournament either.

It’s obvious that all players gain confidence as the tournament progresses. But even in Washington, it was a tough match.

Despite the score, there were a lot of tight games. Last week, the small details went my way, and today they went hers. But it’s still been a positive week for me," Rybakina told *The Tennis Letter*.