Victoria Mboko‘s U.S. Open debut ended Monday with a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Barbora Krejcikova of Czechia in women’s frist-round singles.
mboko played her first match as claiming the National Bank Open title in Montreal earlier this month.The rising star from Toronto, who turns 19 on Tuesday, arrived at Flushing Meadows as the women’s 22nd seed.
The Canadian drew a formidable first-round opponent in Krejcikova, a two-time Grand Slam champion who won the Wimbledon women’s title last year.
The Czech, a former world No. 2, opened with a break and cruised to victory in one hour 23 minutes.
“Of course,I’m a little bit disappointed that I lost today,but reflecting back on it,Barbora is a two-time Grand Slam champion and she has a great level,” Mboko said.
WATCH | Mboko suffers straight-sets loss to Krejcikova in New York City:
Fresh off winning her first WTA tournament title at the national Bank Open in Montreal, victoria Mboko of Burlington, Ont., lost 6-3, 6-2 to Barbora Krejčíková of the Czech Republic, in the first round of the U.S. Open.
“Barbora has a very unique style of play. She has a lot of variation and she’s a very smart player on court. I felt like I was rushing myself a little bit and needed to take more time between points,and find a solution to be more at ease with myself and eventually play my game better.
“I’m always open to grow and learn from mistakes and take this overall match as a learning prospect.”
Mboko appeared to feel discomfort in her wrapped right wrist, continuously shaking it. She sustained a wrist injury when she fell during the semifinals of the National Bank Open.
“I had a previous injury, like, before in Montreal when I fell on it a little bit. I just taped it up for the U.S. Open just to keep it stable and have it, I guess, somewhat OK for the match,” said Mboko.
“going forward, there’s a little break until the Asia swing so I wont to make sure everything is great with my fitness and how I take care of it for the next couple of days. Hopefully I’m going to be ready by then.”
She went from a world ranking of 348 in December to 24th after winning her first WTA title.
“If you told me last year I would have been seeded at the U.S. Open, or even playing the U.S. open, I would have been so happy,” Mboko said.
“I’m happy with where I am. I feel like this is the start of a long journey, so that’s also really exciting.”
Monday’s match paused for a few minutes in the first game of the second set while Krejcikova, Mboko and officials searched for Krejcikova’s vibration dampener, which had gone missing around the Czech’s chair.
“It disrupted the play a little bit, but I mean it was fine I guess,” Mboko said.”I ki