Sawt Falasteen - Canadian teen Mboko wins Hong Kong Open for second WTA title

Mboko overpowered the Spaniard 7-5, 6-7 (9/11), 6-2 at Victoria Park to add the Hong Kong crown to her breakout victory at her home Canadian Open in August.

Mboko, who is at a career-high 21 in the world, defeated the 2021 US Open runner-up and fellow Canadian Leylah Fernandez in three sets in Saturday's semi-finals.

Against the 27-year-old Bucsa, who is ranked 68, Mboko's big serve and clubbing ground strokes gradually wore down her opponent over nearly three hours.

"It's been an incredible week," said the teenager, who was ranked 350 at the end of last year and had her father watching in the crowd.

"Wow, what a match, I'm so tired right now. Cristina really pushed me to my limits."

Mboko broke serve to seal the first set, then began the second in the same fashion before holding for an early 3-0 lead and put the title within grasp.

But Bucsa, who was chasing a first singles title, reeled off three games in a row to level the set 3-3 and then survived a championship point in the tie break to force a decider.

Mboko recovered her poise in the final set and the teenager sealed the deal when her opponent fired a return into the net.

Also on Sunday in China, Russia's Anna Blinkova won the Jiangxi Open with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Austria's Lilli Tagger.

Q.Najjar--SF-PST