Mboko falls – Victoria Mboko couldn’t complete a Canadian sweep at the Strasbourg Open on Saturday, losing the women’s singles final to Emma Navarro. Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani, though, delivered the other half of the story by winning the doubles title.
For the third straight WTA weekend. Canada’s top presence in Strasbourg ended with two different stories happening on the same day. In the women’s singles final, Victoria Mboko couldn’t hold her ground. In the doubles final, Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani turned pressure into points and claimed the title.
Mboko dropped the women’s singles trophy after a tough loss to American Emma Navarro, 0-6, 7-5, 2-6. It was a result that left little room for celebration—especially given what Mboko was chasing. The top-seeded Canadian was aiming for her third career WTA title and her first since the Hong Kong Open in November. She also had that momentum from winning the National Bank Open presented by Rogers last August.
The swing of the match came in the details. Mboko out-aced Navarro 4-0, yet she won just 49 per cent of points on first serve. She also handed over a brutal number of chances—21 break-point opportunities—and Navarro converted seven. Even with the advantage in aces, the final didn’t belong to Mboko once the bigger moments arrived.
Strasbourg served as the last stop on the WTA Tour ahead of the French Open, which begins Sunday. Mboko will now reset quickly: seeded ninth, she opens her tournament on Monday against Czechia’s Nikola Bartunkova.
If singles didn’t go her way, Canada still left the venue with a championship in hand. Dabrowski, partnered with Brazilian Luisa Stefani, cruised to a 7-5, 6-4 doubles victory over American Quinn Gleason and Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri.
Dabrowski and Stefani did the work with efficiency under pressure. They earned 66 per cent of points on first serve and went 5-for-7 on break-point chances to lift the doubles title. By the time the final point landed. the story in Strasbourg was clear: Mboko fell short in singles. but the Canadian spotlight still ended the day on top in doubles.
Strasbourg Open Victoria Mboko Emma Navarro Gabriela Dabrowski Luisa Stefani doubles final WTA Tour French Open Nikola Bartunkova Quinn Gleason Ulrikke Eikeri