Victoria Mboko and Karolina Muchova advance to surprising but highly expected Doha final
Victoria Mboko won against Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2 on Friday evening. She’ll play the winner of the match between Greek Maria Sakkari and Czech Karolina Muchova, the No 14 seed, in the final
Victoria Mboko and Jelena Ostapenko, Doha 2026 | © Qatar Tennis
The 2026 Qatar TotalEnergies Open final will feature 10th seed Victoria Mboko and 14th seed Karolina Muchova on Saturday, February 14. This is a first-time meeting between the two players, both of whom secured their spots with semifinal victories on Friday evening at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.
The 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, currently ranked No 13, defeated world No 24 Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2 in the first semifinal. Despite falling behind 0-2 in the opening set, Mboko won nine of the next eleven games to dismantle the former Roland-Garros champion.
The teenager recorded 6 aces and converted 5 of 9 break point opportunities. With this result, Mboko is guaranteed to make her Top 10 debut on Monday, becoming the fourth Canadian woman to reach the milestone after Carling Bassett-Seguso, Eugenie Bouchard, and Bianca Andreescu. Her run to the final includes consecutive victories over second seed Elena Rybakina and fifth seed Mirra Andreeva.
Mboko as the tour-leading 13 match wins
Mboko enters the final with a tour-leading 13 match wins this season and remains the only player on the WTA tour to have reached the final of the first WTA 1000 event of the year.
In the second semifinal, No 14 seed Karolina Muchova staged a comeback to defeat world No 52 Maria Sakkari 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Muchova, 29, trailed by a set and a break at 3-6, 0-2 before winning 12 of the final 15 games.
The Czech utilised her variety and net play to overwhelm Sakkari, improving her career head-to-head record against the Greek to 5-1. Muchova is the fourth Czech woman to reach a Doha final, joining Lucie Safarova, Karolina Pliskova, and Petra Kvitova. This marks her third WTA 1000 final and her first title match at any level since Beijing 2024.
“She’s playing amazing, Muchova said of the final. Everyone is playing great at this stage of the tournament. It’s gonna be a tough battle. It’s pretty late again. I’ll try to get to bed as soon as possible and get all the strength I’ll have in me and bring good tennis tomorrow”. For Muchova, ranked world No 19, the match represents an opportunity to claim her first title in over a year.
