United Cup Prediction: Victoria Mboko vs Zhu Lin
02:00 AM EST
The Line: Betting Odds: Victoria Mboko -400 / Zhu Lin +280
Tournament Details
Tournament name: United Cup
Host cities: Perth, Sydney
Date: 2 – 11 January 2026
Field: 18 countries
Total prize money: $11,806,190
Tie: Canada vs China
Victoria Mboko vs Zhu Lin Preview
Victoria Mboko enjoyed a fantastic breakthrough season in 2025 after sweeping seven titles at all levels. Five of those came on the ITF circuit during a dominant stint in the first two and a half months of the season. When the Canadian teenager fully transitioned to the WTA level, she won two titles, and fittingly, one of those was the WTA 1000 Montreal in her home country, where she beat four Grand Slam champions including World No. 3 Coco Gauff, to lift the trophy.
After a four-matching losing streak following that title win, Mboko finished the season on a high and won her second Tour-level title in Hong Kong. She helped Canada reach the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers in her final tournament of 2025, thanks to two singles wins. Mboko was named WTA Newcomer of the Year following her breakout year on tour, fending off competition from a strong list of nominees. She also rose from outside the top 300 to finish inside the top 20 of the WTA rankings. Mboko is now Canada’s top-ranked woman.
Zhu Lin, by contrast, had a challenging season, missing three months because of injury after competing in Singapore in late January last year. Upon her return, she had to drop to the lower tiers to build her ranking. She reached a couple of ITF Finals and achieved a quarterfinal finish in the WTA tournament in Ningbo.
Zhu’s United Cup debut kicked off with a straight-sets loss to Belgium’s Elise Mertens. The match took 16 games to decide and lasted an hour and 19 minutes. Zhu won just 48% of first serve points (13/27) and was broken six times in the match. But after compatriot Zhizhen Zhang leveled the tie with a win over Zizou Bergs, Zhu redeemed herself and partnered with Zhang to win the decisive mixed doubles rubber.
Victoria Mboko vs Zhu Lin Head-To-Head
Mboko and Zhu played once on the ITF level four years ago. Zhu won in three sets.
Victoria Mboko vs Zhu Lin Prediction
Mboko enjoyed an outstanding breakthrough season, but this matchup feels like one of those youth vs. experience contests. Zhu has steady hands, but we didn’t see any of that in her opening match, where her game was all over the place. On hard courts, though, she cannot be written off completely, and Mboko might need to dig out a hard-fought victory for Team Canada.