US Open Preview: Victoria Mboko faces tough opening test

The last time we saw Victoria Mboko on a tennis court, she was raising her home tournament's championship trophy before a raucous crowd in Montreal.

The days of Mboko being an upstart player are now behind her.

The Canadian, who turns 19 on Tuesday, is firmly on the radar of tennis fans after capturing the National Bank Open presented by Rogers. Mboko, who began 2025 outside the top 300, enters the US Open main draw on Sunday as the No. 22 seed in the women's draw.

Her reward for being a seeded player for the first time in a tour-level event? A first-round clash with two-time Grand Slam champ Barbora Krejcikova on Monday at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT at 14,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium (the second biggest court at the facility)

The Czech player, who won Wimbledon last year and the French Open in 2021, has slipped to No. 61 in the rankings. A back injury kept her out of the Australian Open and then she had consecutive ho-hum performances at the last two majors (second-round loss at French Open, third-round defeat at Wimbledon).

But there was an uptick last week when the former world No. 2 won three matches at Cincinnati, including an upset of No. 10 seed Elina Svotilina.

Mboko, meanwhile, withdrew from Cincinnati after her remarkable Montreal triumph. She suffered a wrist injury following a semifinal fall that forced her to get an MRI (no structural damage) on the morning of the championship match against four-time Grand Slam champ Naomi Osaka.

Krejcikova hasn't been great at the US Open recently, winning just three matches the past three years after a career-best quarterfinal showing in 2021.

But she's still a very formidable foe for Mboko, who won't have the same home-court advantage that seemed to lift her when times got tough in Montreal.

Here's a look at other big storylines on the eve of the year's final Grand Slam:

Can Canadian men step up on big stage?

Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov and Gabriel Diallo have combined for five tournament titles this season, but it hasn't been the same story at majors.

They've totalled just seven match victories in the first three Grand Slams, with no third-round showings.

After the three players combined for just one win at the National Bank Open in Toronto, Auger-Aliassime made a run to the Cincinnati Open quarterfinals, where he was throttled 6-0, 6-2 by top seed Jannik Sinner. Diallo also lost against the Italian in the third round, dropping a second-set tiebreak, while Shapovalov was one-and-done in Ohio.

All three Canadian men are seeded in New York.

The 25th-seeded Auger-Aliassime faces lucky loser and world No. 151 Billy Harris of Great Britain in his opener. No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev lurks as a potential third-round match.

The 27th-seeded Shapovalov squares off with Hungarian veteran Marton Fucsovics, the world No. 94, in the first round. Their career series is tied 2-2. Sinner is a potential third-round opponent for the winner.

Diallo is seeded for the first time at a Grand Slam, coming in at No. 31. He'll face world No. 60 Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Diallo made his US Open debut after qualifying last year, and then reached the third round.

Canadian clash

Canada's Leylah Fernandez has great memories of the Big Apple, recording her career highlight when she reached the 2021 US Open final.

She hasn't been able to reach those heights since then, with her next-best Grand Slam showing being a quarterfinal berth at the 2022 French Open.

Fernandez appeared to gain some momentum by winning the Citi Open title in Washington last month, but then she lost her first match at both Montreal and Cincinnati.

The 31st-seeded Fernandez will face qualifier Rebecca Marino of Vancouver in a rare all-Canadian confrontation at a Grand Slam in the opening round on Sunday. Marino, ranked 119th in the world, will be looking for her first match victory at a major since getting to the third round of the US Open in 2022. Marino won their only previous meeting on a hard-court in Mexico in 2022.

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus could face the Fernandez-Marino winner in the third round.

Cincinnati success helps

Sabalenka and Sinner captured the US Open titles last year mere weeks after prevailing on hard-courts in Cincinnati.

Poland's Iga Swiatek and Spain's Carlos Alcaraz hope that trend continues this year after taking the Cinci titles on Monday.

Alcaraz, seeded second in New York, caught a break when Sinner retired because of illness after falling behind 5-0 in the Cincinnati final.

Alcaraz and Sinner have combined to win the past seven Grand Slam championships, with the two squaring off in a couple of riveting finals this year at the French Open (won by Alcaraz) and Wimbledon (where Sinner triumphed).

Alcaraz has a potentially tricky US Open first-rounder against hard-serving American Reilly Opelka on Monday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Swiatek, coming off a Wimbledon title, a Cincinnati triumph over Jasmine Paolini and an appearance in the US Open mixed doubles final with Casper Ruud, is seeded second behind Sabalenka as she chases her seventh career Grand Slam title.

Swiatek is in the bottom half of the draw with struggling French Open champ Coco Gauff and Australian Open winner Madison Keys. Those two Americans, along with No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula, have not found their best rhythm in the summer hard-court season.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, could face Denmark's Clara Tauson in the fourth round and Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals. Both players have wins over Sabalenka this year and Tauson and Rybakina also reached the Montreal semis.

Osaka returns

Like Mboko, Osaka skipped Cincinnati after her run to the Montreal final.

The Japanese star, of course, drew some criticism for failing to acknowledging Mboko in her short on-court speech after the Canadian rallied to win the NBO championship match. She then didn't talk to reporters before apologizing to Mboko in a social-media post the next day.

Seeded 23rd after her breakthrough performance in Canada, Osaka opens the US Open against Greet Minnen of Belgium. Osaka, who took 2023 off tour while becoming a mother, won the US Open in 2018 and '20.

Osaka's body language was poor as momentum shifted in the NBO final. We'll see how she responds here.

What about Djokovic?

As Alcaraz and Sinner have taken over men's tennis, Novak Djokovic has taken a bit of a back seat at age 38.

But remember, Djokovic did beat Alcaraz to win Olympic gold in Paris last year and is the last player other than Alcaraz and Sinner to win a Grand Slam — at the 2023 US Open.

The 24-time Grand Slam champ, who threw out a first pitch at a New York Yankees game this week, is seeded seventh this year.

He opens against rising American teenager Learner Tien, a left-hander, under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday night.

Tien reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, beating Daniil Medvedev en route, and also cracked the round of 16 at the NBO, where he knocked out Shapovalov.

Expect the American crowd to really get behind their man if he has some early success against Djokovic.

Venus takes another shot

At age 45, Venus Williams hasn't closed the books on competitive tennis just yet. The American star won one match at the Citi Open before losing in the opening round in Cincinnati.

The US Open gave Williams a wild-card, and she draws No. 11 seed Karolina Muchova in the opening round on Monday night.

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