18-year-old Canadian prospect Victoria Mboko hasn’t had many opportunities to present her abilities at her home WTA 1000 yet, only playing the National Bank Open once in 2022 in Toronto. This will be her first WTA Montreal appearance and expectations are high after a remarkable season so far. Second up on Centre Court on Sunday, she takes on Kimberly Birrell. Who do you think will prevail?
WTA Montreal Day 1 Predictions
Louisa Chirico vs Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
Head-to-head: First meeting
Jessica Bouzas Maneiro was excellent at Wimbledon and showed she can hang around that Top 50 level for a while. This will be her first match on hard courts since Miami, and starting a swing can often be difficult. But she probably shouldn’t be too afraid of Louisa Chirico. The American qualified with a win over Talia Gibson, but doesn’t have an imposing style and will allow Bouzas Maneiro time to tune in her aggressive groundstrokes. That will get her in trouble.
Prediction: Bouzas Maneiro in 2
Katie Volynets vs Aoi Ito
Head-to-head: First meeting
It’s been a peculiar campaign for Aoi Ito–in her last nine events she’s only won the opening round once, but when she did she was able to reach the final at an ITF in Corroios-Seixal. After heavy defeats in the last two weeks, she flew across the ocean and got the win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich in qualifying. Her style, with a ton of variety, tends to be very dangerous to one-note aggressive players. Katie Volynets could turn out to be too solid to caught out by Ito’s game.
Prediction: Volynets in 2
Cristina Bucsa vs Veronika Kudermetova
Head-to-head: Kudermetova 2-0
These two were involved in a thriller in Madrid earlier this year and, especially for Veronika Kudermetova, rollercoaster matches are something she’s very familiar with. The former Top 10 player is getting increasingly hit-or-miss this year and while the upside is still very high, you never really know what you’re going to get. Especially in her first match of the hard-court swing, Cristina Bucsa has a real shot to threaten here. Almost a coin flip with Kudermetova having the firepower to potentially take over if playing well.
Prediction: Kudermetova in 3
Victoria Mboko vs Kimberly Birrell
Head-to-head:
Victoria Mboko’s talent only really exploded with the start of this season, so this is the first proper opportunity she’s getting at other home soil WTA 1000. The Canadian was in learning mode on clay and grass, but back on hard courts she should be a big threat now. While she was a bit unlucky to run into Elena Rybakina in Washington last week, this is a better draw and Mboko should be able to give the home crowd some action this tournament.
Prediction: Mboko in 2
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images
