Comeback complete: Gauff pulls away from rising teen Mboko in Rome opener
Coco Gauff had to work hard to get past fast-rising teenager Victoria Mboko and win her opening match at the 2025 Internazionali BNL d'Italia on Friday night.
The No. 4 seed Gauff held off Canadian qualifier Mboko 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 in their second-round matchup. Gauff was forced to shake off the loss of the opening frame before ending Mboko's run after 1 hour and 43 minutes of play.
Rome: Draws | Scores | Order of play
"Victoria played great tennis," Gauff said after the win. "She forced me to play like that. So full credit to her.
"I was pretty composed because I felt like I was playing the right way in the first, just not necessarily connecting on some shots. I just felt like if I just started to land more balls in, it would go my way."
By the numbers: Gauff knows a thing or two about breaking onto tour as a teenager, starting her journey up the WTA's ranks with her breakthrough season at age 15. Now, 18-year-old Mboko is also making a name for herself in her teen years.
This is only Mboko's second career WTA 1000 main draw, but she continues to impress in top-tier fields -- she nearly beat then-No. 11 Paula Badosa at Miami in March. Mboko ended last year ranked No. 350 but she has zoomed up nearly 200 spots in the rankings since, currently residing at her career-high of No. 156.
However, Gauff has a history of excellence on the clay of the Foro Italico. Gauff has twice reached the semifinals here, in 2021 and 2024, losing to eventual champion Iga Swiatek on both occasions.
Moreover, Gauff hasn't lost a match to a player ranked outside the Top 100 since a defeat to fellow Grand Slam champion Sofia Kenin in the first round of 2023 Wimbledon. Gauff continued that streak on Friday, and improved to 6-0 in her Rome opening matches.
"I didn't know much about [Mboko] before, but I've been following her since Miami," Gauff said. "I think she's a great player. I knew it was going to be a tough match.
"The ranking difference [between us] looks different, but she's playing top-level tennis. I approached the match that way. It's not a case of underestimation. I knew she was going to come out there and play great."
Anatomy of a comeback: Gauff broke Mboko at love for a quick 2-0 lead on Friday, and it seemed like the American was ready to notch a routine win. However, the Canadian surprised her much higher-ranked opponent with just as much defensive prowess as well-deployed shots, pulling herself into contention.
Mboko drew errors from Gauff while double faults also began to creep into the American's game, and the teen rocketed to a 5-2 lead. After back-to-back double faults by Gauff at 5-3, Mboko garnered set point, where the teen put away a netcord forehand to send murmurs through the Campo Centrale crowd.
However, just two weeks ago, Gauff also fell behind quickly in her Madrid opener, losing the first set 6-0 to Dayana Yastremska. The American had to ease her way into that match as well, but once she got a foothold, she completely turned things around. That pattern repeated in Rome.
Gauff broke Mboko all four times the qualifier served in the second set, swiftly leveling the match at one set apiece. Importantly, Gauff drastically reduced her unforced errors from 18 in the first set to just seven in the second.
By the decisive third set, Gauff was totally focused and mostly impervious to making errors, and her double faults completely disappeared. Gauff won the final six games of the match to deny Mboko an upset in the teenager's first career meeting versus a Top 10 player.
Gauff finished the match with 25 winners, nearly double that of Mboko, who had 13. Gauff converted nine of her 13 break points as she polished off the turnaround victory.
Next up: Gauff will face No. 32 seed Magda Linette of Poland in the third round. Linette posted a 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 comeback over former World No. 3 Maria Sakkari earlier in the day.
Gauff leads Linette 2-1 in their head-to-head -- however, Linette won their most recent meeting. Linette took down Gauff 6-4, 6-4 in the Miami Open Round of 16 a couple months ago.
