Caty McNally beat Victoria Mboko 6-4, 6-1 at the Mutua Madrid Open on Friday to claim the first Top 10 win of her career and reach the third round in Madrid for the first time. The match lasted 1 hour and 19 minutes, and it ended a run that had left McNally 0-8 against Top 10 opponents and 0-12 against Top 20 players.
McNally, a two-time Grand Slam doubles finalist, said she had felt she was knocking on the door against elite players for some time, winning sets but not putting two together. This time, she held firm from start to finish and said the result felt especially satisfying because it showed her level belongs in matches like this. She also said she had tried to step back and appreciate where the journey had taken her, from wrist surgery and months away from the tour to playing on a full court in Madrid.
The victory matters because McNally has spent much of the past year rebuilding. She was sidelined for eight months in 2024 after wrist surgery, then worked her way back from No. 287 to No. 76 after reaching a singles high of No. 54 in 2023. Along the way, she reached a pair of WTA 500 finals in doubles in the last eight months and was the only player to take a set from Iga Swiatek during Swiatek's title run at Wimbledon last summer.
Mboko, meanwhile, arrived in Madrid unbeaten in 13 matches against players ranked outside the Top 50 and had already beaten McNally in straight sets at the Australian Open in January. But her first clay match of the season turned rough quickly. She finished with 47 unforced errors and six double faults, generated only one break point on return and saw her 13-match winning streak against lower-ranked opponents come to an end.
McNally was steadier on serve, landing 80% of her first serves and saving eight of the 12 break points she faced. She will next meet Katerina Siniakova, who beat lucky loser Anna Blinkova 6-2, 6-2 earlier on Wednesday, with McNally still bidding for her first career Round of 16 at a WTA 1000 event. For a player who has spent years grinding back from injury and ranking drops, Madrid has already given her the kind of victory that can change the shape of a season.
