There was BSG interest in three finals over the weekend courtesy of players who now all occupy top-10 spots in the world rankings
As the world celebrated Valentine’s this past weekend, I was loving the action on the court in Dallas, Doha and Rotterdam. Not only was the tennis on show of a high level, there was Black Spin Global interest in three finals!
Victoria Mboko showed why there’s so much excitement around her name with a stunning debut run to the final in Qatar. The 19-year-old Canadian beat fellow teenager Mirra Andreeva (third round), Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina (quarter-final) and Jelena Ostapenko (semi-final) before falling to Karolina Muchova in the championship match.
The Qatar Open final was Mboko’s second at WTA 1000 level following her fairytale win in Montreal last season. It was also Mboko’s second final of the season following her runner-up finish in Adelaide before the Australian Open last month.
Mboko, who started 2025 ranked 333rd, is up to a career-high No 10 in the world. Believe the hype! Yes, it may be early – 2026 will be Mboko’s first full season on the WTA Tour – but all the signs suggest the teenager is well equipped to hold her own among the elite in women’s tennis.
Her all-round game is so sound. The backhand is a standout shot, but she can also do serious damage on the forehand wing. She also possesses a heavy first serve and is a great mover. Lazy comparisons with Coco Gauff have been made, but make no mistake, Mboko has her own unique style.
The Canadian has no points to defend until the North American hard-court swing so do not bet against her rising further up the rankings.
Over in Dallas, world No 9 and second seed Ben Shelton found a way to beat top seed Taylor Fritz in a gripping, all-American final. The country’s two best male players put on a show at the ATP 500 in what was their third meeting. Shelton, who now leads the head-to-head 2-1, saved three championship points in the deciding set.
In the semi-final, played on Saturday evening, Shelton saw off fellow lefty Denis Shapovalov in three sets after losing the opener and it was the same story in the quarter-final against Miomir Kecmanovic. Shelton’s second-round match against Adrian Mannarino also went the distance after the tricky Frenchman snatched the second-set tiebreak.
Shelton’s first round against Canada’s Gabriel Diallo was the only straight-sets match for the 23-year-old American.
His lethal left arm is no secret. Many a time over the course of his five matches in Dallas, a huge first delivery was thrown down which resulted in either an ace or a short return which allowed for an easy put-away on the plus-one ball. But, as was on show throughout his run to the last eight in Melbourne last month, Shelton is keeping opponents guessing and serving with spin, awkward kick as well as the odd one to the body which is proving to be a nightmare for the receiver.
However, what was most impressive about Shelton’s run to his fourth ATP Tour title and first indoors was his dogged determination. The guy just loves to compete. He saved five out of the seven (71%) break points he faced against Fritz and converted three from five (60%) – Fritz went two from five (40%) and two from seven (29%) respectively. Shelton simply played the big points better against Fritz, as was the case against Shapovalov, Kecmanovic and Mannarino.
Over in Europe, Félix Auger-Aliassime was in his happy place at the ABN Amro Open. The Canadian won his first ever ATP Tour title in Rotterdam in 2022 and has now reached the final on three occasions following his most recent exploits at the ATP 500 event.
FAA, who was the second seed this year, entered in red-hot form after defending his crown in Montpellier the week before. The 25-year-old only dropped one set en route to the Open Occitanie title and he carried on that ruthless form, winning all of his matches in the Netherlands in straight sets before succumbing to a clinical Alex de Minaur in Sunday’s final.
During his semi-final match against world No 10 Alexander Bublik – Auger-Aliassime won 6-1, 6-2 in 54 minutes – Barry Cowan, on commentary duty for Tennis TV, said: “In terms of indoor tennis […] his [Auger-Aliassime’s] level in the last couple of days has been nothing short of ridiculous.” Before the final, Auger-Aliassime was seeing the ball big (connecting cleanly off both wings). The serve and the forehand were devastating at times and it was also nice to see him pull out the odd dropshot on a few occasions.
No excuses will be made by Auger-Aliassime, but he did take an off-court medical timeout in the second set against De Minaur which suggests he was not 100% physically. Thankfully, following a run of back-to-back finals, the world No 7 will sit out this week before returning to action in Dubai later this month.
Elsewhere, over in Portugal, the Corley sisters, Ivana and Carmen, secured their second doubles title of the season at the Oeiras 1 Jamor Indoor (WTA 125). The American pair beat the top seeds Emily Appleton and Makoto Ninomiya 2-6, 6-0, 10-4 in the final.
Alafia Ayeni and Keegan Smith were victorious at the Baton Rouge Challenger, coming back from a set down to beat Andres Martin and Ronald Hohmann 5-7, 6-3, 10-7 in the final.
In India, Jay Clarke and Mukund Sasikumar picked up the runner-up trophy after reaching the doubles final at the Chennai Challenger. And in Tunisia, Eliakim Coulibaly won his first title of the season at the M25 Monastir ITF event. Coulibaly, who saw off Thomas Faurel 6-3, 6-3 in the final, beat Stefanos Tsitsipas’s younger brother, Petros in the second round of the hard-court event.
Basically, everywhere you looked last weekend there were wins across the board at every level and I loved it. 🫶🏾 (heart emoji)
Words by Eugene