Roland-Garros: Mboko shines on Grand Slam debut, beats Sun to reach second round

Victoria Mboko defeated Lulu Sun 6-1, 7-6 (4) on Sunday. She’ll face German Eva Lys in the next round

Internazionali BNL d Italia Victoria Mboko during the Internazionali BNL d Italia 2025 at Foro Italico, Italy, May 09th, 2025 Imago-Images/Emmefoto Copyright: xImago-Images/Emmefotox

May 25, 2025

Roland Garros •First round • Completed

Canadian qualifier Victoria Mboko advanced to the second round of Roland-Garros by winning against New Zealander Lulu Sun 6-1, 7-6 (4) at Roland-Garros in Paris on Sunday.

Playing her first Grand Slam match, Mboko needed a little over 90 minutes to get the job done.

The Canadian came out all guns blazing as she threatened a bagel in the opening set, however, Sun dodged the embarrassment. The second set witnessed a fierce fight, but Mboko showcased impressive composure to save five break points in the sixth game and then closed it out in the tiebreaker.

“It’s been my first Grand Slam ever, so there’s a lot of emotions going on,” Mboko said in her post-match presser in Paris. “I’m also just very excited to be here, to qualify, honestly just to win my first round in the main draw. Yeah, I’m super content right now and I’m super happy with the way I’ve been playing. Hopefully I can continue on doing the same thing.”

A winning start for Victoria Mboko! 😎🎾

The Canadian wins her first-round match at Roland Garros in straight sets against Lulu Sun. This was also her first main draw win at a Grand Slam tournament. 💪

Next round, she'll face Eva Lys.

Go Vicky! 🇨🇦@nationalbank pic.twitter.com/2SCmo4FHnL
— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) May 25, 2025

She finished with seven aces, 27 winners and two break point conversions, averaging 45 percent on the second serve return.

Mboko started the season outside of the top 300 but she’s currently ranked 120th in the world. She started her tour journey this year in Miami, where she lost to Paula Badosa in a tough second-round fight after defeating Camila Osorio in the first round.

She later earned a place in the Italian Open main draw through qualifiers and overcame home favourite Ariana Zucchini in the first round before losing to No 4 seed Coco Gauff.

I tried to trick my brain into thinking it wasn’t such a big deal.”
Victoria Mboko

The 18-year-old qualified for the Paris main draw on the back of straight-set victories against Sinja Kraus (6-4, 6-2), Kathinka von Deichmann (6-3, 6-2) and Kaja Juvan (7-5, 6-3). The three wins helped Mboko get a hang of the dirt and dominate Sun in the first round.

“I feel like before the match I didn’t really feel that nervous, to be honest,” Mboko continued. “I think, Lulu, she’s a really great player. I knew I had to bring some great tennis out today. Although I did play the quallies, so I had kind of three more matches over her here.

“Before playing the match I just took it as like it’s another match, don’t focus on the Grand Slam. Of course, it’s a really big deal for me, but I tried to kind of trick my brain into thinking it wasn’t such a big deal, you know, you’re just playing another match, just another tournament. It helped me kind of calm down and have less stress levels I guess before playing my match.”

Mboko, ranked No 122, will play German Eva Lys next.

Paris (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 56.352.000):