In a remarkable display of resilience and talent, 18-year-old Canadian tennis sensation Victoria Mboko captured her first WTA Tour title on Friday, defeating former world number one Naomi Osaka in the final of the National Bank Open in Montreal.
Overcoming both a shaky start and a painful wrist injury, Mboko rallied from a set down to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, capping a dream week that has catapulted her into tennis history.
Mboko’s victory makes her only the third Canadian woman to win the prestigious home tournament in the Open Era, joining Faye Urban in 1969 and Bianca Andreescu in 2019.
Her meteoric rise has been nothing short of extraordinary: she began 2025 ranked No. 333 in the world, rose to No. 85 before the tournament, and will now debut at a career-high No. 25 in the WTA rankings.
The final was a battle of wills and momentum shifts. Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, dominated the opening set with aggressive baseline play, breaking Mboko’s serve repeatedly. But the teenager, who had sustained a wrist injury in her semi-final win over Elena Rybakina, refused to wilt.
Playing through visible discomfort, Mboko adjusted her game in the second set, using sharp angles and well-timed drop shots to disrupt Osaka’s rhythm.
The turning point came early in the third set when Mboko, leading 2-1, saved four break points in a tense fourth game. That hold of serve sparked a run of four straight games, during which she out-maneuvered and out-hit her more experienced opponent.
On match point, Osaka netted a backhand, prompting Mboko to drop to her knees in disbelief before sprinting to embrace her family and coaches.
“When I had that winning moment and saw so many people standing up and cheering for me, it was surreal,” Mboko said. “It proves that your dreams are closer than they seem.”
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The Montreal crowd played a big part in lifting the young champion. The packed stadium roared for every Mboko winner, to the extent that the umpire had to repeatedly call for silence during points. For the teenager, the support was overwhelming.
“It’s been an incredible week here,” she told the crowd in French. “Montreal, je vous aime!”
Despite her wrist being “hard to move” after the fall against Rybakina, Mboko had powered through a physically demanding week, defeating four Grand Slam champions — top-seeded Coco Gauff, Sofia Kenin, Rybakina, and Osaka — in succession.
For Osaka, the defeat marked her best WTA 1000 run since reaching the Miami final in 2022. After taking a 15-month break from tennis in late 2022 to focus on her mental health and motherhood, she returned in 2024 following the birth of her daughter, Shai. While disappointed, Osaka praised Mboko’s composure under pressure.
“She played fearless tennis today, and that’s why she deserved it,” Osaka said in her post-match remarks.
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Congolese parents and raised in Toronto, Mboko was already a standout on the ITF circuit earlier this year, winning five titles between January and March.
Her junior promise was evident years earlier, as she claimed her first professional title at the ITF W25 Saskatoon in 2022 and successfully defended it the following year.
Her breakthrough at the Grand Slam level came in 2025 when she qualified for the French Open and reached the third round. At Wimbledon, she upset 25th-seeded Magdalena Frech in her main-draw debut.
Mboko is coached by Nathalie Tauziat, the 1998 Wimbledon finalist and a former world No. 3, who has been credited with refining her tactical awareness and net play.
With the Canadian Open victory, Mboko’s trajectory now mirrors that of Andreescu, who used her 2019 win in Montreal as a springboard to capture the US Open. Tennis analysts believe the young Canadian could be a major contender in New York later this month.
As the stadium lights dimmed and the celebrations continued, Mboko’s words summed up her journey best: “It’s been a fairytale. I just kept telling myself, ‘One more match, one more chance,’ and now I’m standing here with the trophy.”
