CANBERRA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Canada's rising star Victoria Mboko beat defending champion Madison Keys to advance into the semifinals at the Adelaide International on Thursday.
World No. 17 Mboko, 19, defeated ninth-ranked Keys 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in one hour and 53 minutes for her second career victory against a top-10 opponent.
Keys had won the Adelaide International title in 2025 before going on to claim her first career Grand Slam title at the Australian Open weeks later.
"I know she won this tournament last year and of course the Australian Open. I knew coming into this match it had to be a big fight, so I'm glad I got it done," Mboko said on court after the match.
Mboko will play Australia's Kimberly Birrell in Friday's semifinal, after the world No. 107 came back from a set down to beat Romania's Jaqueline Cristian 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 in a three-hour epic.
The Australian led 5-2 in the first set and had five set points, but could not make the most of the opportunities as Cristian won five games in a row to seal the set.
Birrell flipped the momentum in a dominant second set where she won the opening five games.
Tied at 5-5 in the third set, Birrell got the decisive break of serve for a 6-5 lead and converted her second match point in the following game with a backhand winner down the line, heading to her first career semifinal in a WTA 500 tournament. ■
