Mboko beats Fernandez in all-Canadian semifinal at Hong Kong Open

Victoria Mboko won an all-Canadian showdown in the semifinals of the Hong Kong Tennis Open on Saturday, defeating Leylah Fernandez (2-6, 6-3, 6-2) to advance to her second WTA final of the season.

Mboko, 19, rebounded after a tough first set by boosting her first-serve success rate, helping her win 11 of the final 14 games of the match against her 23-year-old counterpart from Laval, Que.

"I didn't really have the best start," Mboko said after the match. "But I gotta give credit to [Fernandez] – she was playing really great, aggressive tennis, which made it hard for me to find my rhythm. I just started saying to myself, 'she's playing really great so I just wanted to stay in there as much as I could with her and find a way.

"It slowly got me a lot more confidence in my game, and [by the end] I was more brave and able to go for my shots."

The Toronto native will face Spain's Cristina Bucsa, who beat past Maya Joint in straight sets (6-3, 6-1) on Saturday.

Mboko has faced Bucsa just one other time in her career, taking a 6-3, 6-2 victory in the first qualifying round on the clay courts in Rome earlier this year.