MONTREAL — She’s a rising star, a fighter — and now, a champion.
Victoria Mboko did it again on Thursday night, rallying back through the pain of a wrist injury to defeat four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the National Bank Open final, capping a fairy tale run that fans across Canada won’t soon forget.
The 18-year-old Canadian tennis sensation dropped to her knees after Osaka fired a shot into the net as a raucous packed house burst into cheers around IGA Stadium’s centre court.
A crowd so rowdy, the umpire repeatedly asked fans to “please be quiet during the points.”
Mboko ran to hug her family and coaches in the courtside box after gutting out another thrilling comeback to claim her first career WTA title — at a 1000-level event, no less.
She became the third Canadian to win the hometown tournament in the Open Era, joining Bianca Andreescu (2019) and Faye Urban (1969), and the first to do so in Montreal.
“It’s been an incredible week here in Montreal,” Mboko told the crowd in a post-match ceremony. “Montreal, je vous aime!”
The Toronto phenom will now climb to 25th in the women’s singles world rankings, a stunning rise after she began the year outside the top 300 and started the tournament ranked 85th.
Mboko improved to 53-9 in all competitions this year, including 27-8 against higher-ranked players. She also took home US$752,275 for winning the tournament — more than doubling her $458,001 in career earnings before the event.
In a heroic final game, Mboko rallied from 40-15 down against Osaka’s serve to win the match, kicking it off with a remarkable rush to the net after the Japanese star just barely touched the ball over. Mboko got there a split-second before the ball bounced a second time and hit it into an open backcourt as the crowd erupted.
The Canadian followed with a massive forehand winner before Osaka stuck a shot long to set up match point, fans rising to their feet, and she made no mistake.
It was a second jaw-dropping performance in as many nights for Mboko.
She reached the final by winning a match for the ages in the semifinal, climbing from one set down, saving a match point and battling through her wrist ailment to upset former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) in an absolute thriller.
Mboko’s breakout moment also included wins over 2020 Australian Open champ Sofia Kenin and world No. 2 Coco Gauff, ousting the tournament’s top seed in a 62-minute fourth-round demolition.
She became the first Canadian player to defeat three former women’s singles Grand Slam champions in a single WTA event in the Open Era on Wednesday — and extended it to four on Thursday.
And she did it despite shaking her wrist often after falling hard to the ground early in Wednesday’s third set.
Mboko piled up a whopping 13 double faults, and the speed of her first serves dipped as low as 120 kilometres per hour instead of the usual 180.
Osaka, meanwhile, was seeking her eighth title and her first since the 2021 Australian Open. She put on a clinic in the first set and did not need to save a single breakpoint chance.
That changed drastically in the second and third, where serving hardly seemed to be an advantage in an error-filled two sets. Mboko broke Osaka eight times on nine opportunities, while Osaka converted six of 13. In total, there were 14 service breaks in 25 games.
Before Osaka could even put the opening serve of the match in play, fans disrupted Mboko’s opponent with “Go Vicky!” chants.
When the Japanese star double-faulted on the second point, the crowd let out a loud, extended “Yeah!”
Osaka stayed composed early despite the hostile environment, but later showed frustration as the match unravelled. At 1-1 in the third set, she struck a ball into the crowd after faulting on her first serve.
Then after the match, when the crowd applauded the runner-up with some yelling mixed in, she said, “Thanks, I guess,” and did not congratulate Mboko on her victory.
“I don’t really wanna take up too much time,” she told the crowd. “I’ll just say thank you to everyone. Thank you to my team, the ball kids, organizers and volunteers, and I hope you guys had a good night.”
Osaka later declined to speak with reporters in a post-match news conference.
It was dubbed as a dream final on multiple fronts.
In one corner, Mboko, a teenage phenom announcing herself as Canada’s next tennis star. In the other, the 27-year-old Osaka, a former world No. 1 who’s having a resurgence after stepping away from tennis for 15 months when she had her daughter Shai in July 2023.
Both players were unseeded — the third time ever in a WTA 1000 final — and Mboko was only the third wild card to make the tournament final.
Mboko arrived in Montreal with her star rising in the tennis world. A promising junior player who dealt with a nagging knee injury the past two years, she began the season on a 22-match unbeaten streak in the lower-tier ITF Tour before rising through qualifying to the French Open third round and making more noise at Wimbledon.
Her breakthrough in Montreal put her on the map in her home country. Over in Toronto, the Sobeys Stadium crowd broke out into cheers when Mboko’s win was announced during the men’s singles final between Ben Shelton and Karen Khachanov, confusing both players.
“It's been all about Vicky Mboko,” tournament director Valérie Tétreault said before the final. “We feel that Montreal, Quebec, and even across the country, right now everybody is following what's happening at this tournament and is inspired by this young woman, only 18 years of age, who keeps surprising us by her composure, her maturity, her level of play as well, and the self-belief that she has.
“She's showing us basically that — and she said it last night — anything is possible. I think she has a bright future ahead of her. It's great obviously for, yes, the popularity of this event, but even more so, I think for the popularity of tennis.”
Tennis Canada announced a third sellout with Mboko playing and a total of 287,329 spectators for this year’s revamped 12-day, 96-player National Bank Open.
Next up, Mboko has earned a performance bye at the Cincinnati Open, another 1000-level event that started Thursday, but could still withdraw from the tournament.
She has also earned automatic entry into the main draw at the U.S. Open, the final Grand Slam of the season beginning Aug. 24.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
