Coco Gauff, Sloane Stephens & tennis world react to 19-year-old Victoria Mboko winning 2nd career title at Hong Kong Open

Victoria Mboko has been taking the tennis world by storm this year, and her latest triumph came at the Hong Kong Open, where she captured her second career title. Following her victory, Coco Gauff, Sloane Stephens, and several others from the tennis world shared their reactions to celebrate her achievement.

Mboko first rose to prominence earlier this year when she won the Canadian Open, her maiden WTA 1000 title and first career trophy, at just 18 years old. However, after that breakthrough moment, she hit a bit of a rough patch, struggling to make deep runs at the US Open, China Open, Wuhan Open, and Ningbo Open.

The Canadian followed that up with a quarterfinal run at the Japan Open, where she lost to Elena Rybakina. However, she bounced back strongly in Hong Kong, defeating Talia Gibson, Alexandra Eala, Anna Kalinskaya, Leylah Fernandez, and finally Cristina Bucsa 7-5, 6-7(9), 6-2 in a thrilling final to capture the title.

Later, Victoria Mboko took to Instagram to share photos from the WTA 250 tournament, including one of her holding the trophy, along with the caption:

"Title Number two. Just a little sweet ending to the szn. Thank you to everyone who made this so special."

Coco Gauff and Sloane Stephens were among the first to congratulate Mboko under her post, with Mirra Andreeva, Priscilla Hon, Shelby Rogers, Gabriela Dabrowski, Carson Branstine, and several others also joining in to celebrate her win.

"Congratulations," Gauff wrote. "Go Vicky!!!!" Stephens wrote.

Take a look at their reactions below:

Source: Victoria Mboko's Instagram

---

Victoria Mboko enters WTA Top 20 after incredible Hong Kong Open win

Victoria Mboko pictured at the 2025 Hong Kong Open | Image Source: Getty

Victoria Mboko’s rise this season has been nothing short of remarkable. She began the year ranked World No. 333 and kept improving with every tournament, eventually breaking into the Top 50 after claiming her first-ever title in Montreal.

Now, Mboko has taken things up another notch, breaking into the Top 20 following her win over Cristina Bucsa in the Hong Kong Open final last Sunday. She climbed from World No. 21 to No. 18 and became only the sixth Canadian player in history to achieve a Top 20 ranking in the WTA standings.

The 19-year-old wrapped up her season with an impressive 60-14 overall record, including 20-10 in WTA main draws. She’ll now set her sights on starting the next season strong and chasing her maiden Grand Slam title.

Edited by Pritha Ghosh