Coco Gauff Reveals How She and Victoria Mboko Rescued Each Other With Qatar Open Partnership

American tennis star Coco Gauff recently opened up about her decision to partner with Canadian youngster Victoria Mboko ahead of the 2026 Qatar Open. Looking to rebound from her quarterfinal exit at the Australian Open, Gauff now has her sights set on a strong showing in Doha, aiming for deep runs in both the singles and doubles draws.

Coco Gauff Shares How She Ended Up Teaming With Victoria Mboko Ahead of the Qatar Open

The World No. 5 heads into the Qatar Open as the fourth seed after Aryna Sabalenka’s withdrawal, while the absence of Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys further strengthens her position in the field. She is also set to compete in the doubles draw, partnering 2025 Canadian Open champion Mboko.

Ahead of her campaign in Doha, Gauff was asked about how her partnership with Mboko came together and what her thoughts were going into that. The 21-year-old explained that she had initially planned to play with a different partner, but after that arrangement fell through, she reached out to Mboko, who was also left without a doubles partner.

“Yeah, well, I was supposed to play with someone else but we weren’t gonna get in so I approached her cause she was also playing with someone else, and they weren’t gonna get in. So I was like if I play together we’ll get in, and she said yes, and yeah, happy to back on the doubles court, especially with someone as great as Vicky is,” she said. 

Gauff opened her 2026 season in Melbourne as the third seed and made a strong start to her Australian Open campaign. The American breezed past Kamilla Rakhimova and Olga Danilović in straight sets before overcoming Hailey Baptiste in a three-set battle to book her place in the fourth round.

Gauff then got past Karolína Muchová with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win, showing resilience after dropping the second set. Her run, however, came to an end in the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by Elina Svitolina in straight sets.

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Meanwhile, Mboko announced herself on the big stage by capturing her home WTA 1000 title at the Canadian Open, a breakthrough that mirrored Gauff’s own rapid rise. The Canadian has since added the Hong Kong Open to her résumé and climbed to a career-high World No. 13 in the WTA rankings.

Gauff and Mboko will open their doubles campaign against Cristina Bucșa and Nicole Melichar-Martinez. A win would see the pair move on to face either the experienced duo of Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva or the Ukrainian sisters Lyudmyla and Nadiia Kichenok in the second round.