MONTREAL – Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko completed her dream run to the National Bank’s open title on Thursday night, overcoming a slow start to beat Japan’s stars Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4 and 6-1.
The 18-year-old Mboko won her first WTA Tour title, joined Faye Urban in 1969 and joined Bianca Andreescu in 2019. She jumps from 85th to 25th in the world rankings.
Mboko fell to her knees after Osaka fired a shot into the net as a noisy house that had been cheering around the center court exploded. The crowd was very violent and the judge repeatedly asked fans to “keep quiet” during the point.
There were 13 service breaks in 25 games, and Mboko converted eight of nine breakpoints.
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina to Congolese parents, Mboko grew up in Toronto. She defeated four major champions in the hard court event, routed top seeded Cocogoff and topped with Osaka, Sophia Kenin and Elena Ribakina.
Osaka, the four-time Grand Slam champion, reaching number one in the world, has performed at its best in the WTA 1000 tournament since reaching the 2022 Miami Finals. She left for 15 months at the end of that season and acquired her daughter, Shy, in July 2023.
Mboko is the third wildcard to win the WTA 1000 title event, following Maria Sharapova in Cincinnati in 2011 and Andreesque of the Indian Wells in 2019. She is also the second lowest ranked player to win a WTA 1000 or Tier-1 title since the Tier 1 category began in 1990.
The Associated Press and ESPN research contributed to this report.
