Canada's Victoria Mboko advances to NBO semifinals in Montreal

Victoria Mboko keeps on rising.

Two days after dispatching No. 1 seed Coco Gauff, the Canadian teenage tennis sensation booked her place in the National Bank Open semifinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in women's singles action Monday night.

Mboko upset Gauff in straight sets Saturday, winning the lopsided match in just 62 minutes.

There was no letdown Monday, even if Mboko fought a little harder to pull out the victory.

After taking a back-and-forth — and error-filled — first set, Mboko lost on serve in a sluggish start to the second set but broke back in the fourth and sixth games to take a 4-2 advantage.

The 18-year-old from Toronto held serve and broke once more, with Bouzas Maneiro's backhand sailing long on match point to lift the fans out of their seats after 77 minutes.

Mboko is the first Canadian to reach the WTA 1000 event's semifinals since Bianca Andreescu's title run in 2019. She's also the youngest woman to reach the semis since Belinda Bencic's 2015 win in Toronto.

Bouzas Maneiro, ranked 51st, was also playing in the quarterfinals of a 1000-level tournament for the first time.

In a breakthrough year, Mboko has surged from outside the top 300 to a career-high No. 85 in the world rankings. That number is projected to climb to at least No. 55, according to WTA live rankings.

The last Canadian remaining in singles, Mboko has made a name for herself at home, her powerful ball-striking on full display in her first National Bank Open main draw.

She will meet Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina in Wednesday's semifinals. The ninth-seeded Rybakina advanced after Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk was forced to retire with an apparent arm injury while trailing 6-1, 2-1 earlier Monday night.

After two