Canadian teen sensation Victoria Mboko defeated Naomi Osaka at the National Bank Open final in Montreal to grab her first career WTA title on Thursday night.
With an ailing wrist, the 18-year-old overcame a slow start to beat four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the National Bank Open final.
Mboko is now the third Canadian to capture the title at the hometown tournament in the Open Era, after Bianca Andreescu (2019) and Faye Urban (1969). She is also the first to do so in Montreal.
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The teen will now climb to 25th in the women’s singles world rankings, an amazing feat after she started the year outside the top 300.
The Congolese-Canadian rising star shocked the world when she defeated three Major champions—Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff, and Elena Rybakina—on her way to the final.
Mboko was born to Congolese parents in Charlotte, North Carolina, and raised in Toronto. The youngest of four siblings, Mboko started playing tennis at the age of 3 after being inspired by her three siblings who also play tennis, according to the WTA. She had potential as a junior. She successfully defended her maiden professional singles title in 2023 after winning it at the ITF W25 tournament in Saskatoon in 2022.
She won five titles on the lower-tier ITF Tour and began the season with a 22-match winning run. Mboko advanced to the French Open’s third round, her maiden Grand Slam main draw, before defeating 25th-seeded Magdalena Frech in Wimbledon’s opening round.
Mboko is coached by former world No 3, 1998 Wimbledon finalist and 1997 Billie Jean King Cup champion Nathalie Tauziat.
