Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko will make a spectacular leap of 60 places from world no. 85 to 25 within 10 days of high-octane tennis at her home championship in Montreal. The 18-year-old Mboko, whose parents moved from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the United States before her birth and later settled in Toronto, wiped out four-time Grand Slam champ Naomi Osaka in the Canadian Open final on Thursday night.
The Japanese star comfortably clinched the first set before succumbing to a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 defeat to Mboko, who recorded her first WTA Tour title. There were 13 service breaks in 25 games, with Mboko converting eight of nine break points. Fighting a wrist problem after a fall on Wednesday, Mboko had 13 double-faults.
The youngster who made her main-draw debut at the same championship in the doubles category back in 2022, joined Faye Urban in 1969 and Bianca Andreescu in 2019 as the only Canadians to win the home event in the Open Era.
Mboko dropped to her knees after Osaka fired a shot into the net as a raucous, packed house burst into cheers around Centre Court and ran to hug her family and coaches in the courtside box. The crowd was so rowdy, the umpire repeatedly asked fans to “please be quiet during the points.” “It’s been an incredible week here in Montreal,” Mboko told the crowd. “Montreal, je vous aime!”
Throughout the Montreal event, Mboko confronted and took down four Grand Slam winners, including Osaka, who had just delivered her best WTA 1000 tournament performance in three years. After trumping Sofia Kenin (6-2, 6-3) in the second round, Mboko thumped top seed Coco Gauff in the round of 16 and overcame Elena Rybakina in a three-setter semi-final.
Aged 18 years and 11 months, Mboko is only the second youngest woman to beat four Grand Slam winners in the same tournament after Serena Williams (17y 11m) at the US Open in 1999.
