Karolina Muchova has captured her first WTA title in over six years after beating Canadian rising star Victoria Mboko in straight sets at the Qatar Open.
Muchova, seeded 14th in the Doha draw, pulled off a 6-4, 7-5 win over Mboko, who was playing in her sixth WTA 1000 tournament. The Czech had only won one out of her six previous WTA finals played coming into the match, which was back in 2019 at the Korean Open. She is the fourth player from her country to win the tournament, following Petra Kvitova, Karolina Pliskova, and Lucie Safarova.
“It’s been a while since I won a tournament. It’s just nice to get that feeling again and to be reminded of that victory feeling here in Doha. It’s incredible,” Muchova said afterwards.
“I’m so excited as well for my team that we get to experience this together. Thank you for standing here with me. Thank you, everyone. Your support means a lot. I’m just very glad that we get to celebrate it and live this win together.” She added.
The 29-year-old broke Mboko three times and battled back from a 2-4 deficit in the second set en route to the title. Overall, she won 71% of her service points. Earlier in the tournament, she also scored wins over Maria Sakkari and Anna Kalinskaya. Mboko was the only seeded player Muchova played in the entire tournament.
“I’d like to congratulate Victoria. You play with so much maturity, and you play incredibly,” she said in tribute to her opponent.
“It’s been an incredible week for you. Congratulations. I’m sure you have many titles ahead of you.”
Runner-up Mboko will still take plenty of confidence from her run in Doha, which saw her beat Jelena Ostapenko, Elena Rybakina and Mirra Andreeva. As a result, she will break into the top 10 on Monday at the age of 19. This time last year, she was ranked outside the top 200.
“I want to thank my team and my dad for supporting me this week,” said Mboko.
“It’s not the outcome I wanted but I think there’s so many positives to take away.”
Muchova will rise to 11th in the rankings on Monday, which is three spots below her career best.
