WTA Montreal: The 18-year-old local hope Mboko continues her journey, set to face Rybakina.

On August 4, local time, the WTA 1000 Montreal tournament held two quarterfinal matches in the women's singles upper bracket. The 18-year-old local star Mboko's dream breakthrough journey continues as she defeated the Spanish player Boses Manero, who previously eliminated Zhu Lin in the fourth round, with a score of 6-4, 6-2. This marks her first entry into a tour semifinal, making her the second local player to reach the semifinals since the Open Era began in 1970, a feat only previously achieved by Andreescu in 2019. Additionally, Mboko is not only the youngest semifinalist since Bencic in 2015 but also the youngest local player to reach the semifinals in this event's history since the Open Era.

Mboko

Mboko's world ranking is set to break into the TOP 50 next week. Her current coach is former Wimbledon runner-up Natalia Tausiat. Notably, Mboko made her Grand Slam main draw debut this year at the French Open, reaching the round of 32 after defeating Sun Lulu and Lis, ultimately losing to Zheng Qinwen in the third round.

Rybakina

Mboko's opponent in the semifinals will be former Wimbledon champion and 9th seed Rybakina. This will be their second encounter; two weeks ago at the WTA 500 Washington event, Rybakina won in straight sets. In another women's singles quarterfinal, Rybakina advanced when Kostyuk retired due to a wrist injury while leading 6-1, 2-1, in a match that lasted only 54 minutes. This marks Rybakina's tenth career entry into a WTA 1000 semifinal and her fifth semifinal appearance of the season.

The two women's singles quarterfinals in the lower bracket will take place on Tuesday local time: 6th seed and Australian Open champion Keys will face 16th seed Townsend, who previously eliminated Swiatek; 10th seed Ukrainian star Svitolina will have a spotlight match against four-time Grand Slam champion and former world number one Naomi Osaka.

(Text and editing by Wang Fei, images by Visual China)