Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko capped off a sensational run at the National Bank Open on Thursday night, rallying from a set down to defeat Japanese star Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 and claim her first WTA Tour title.
The 18-year-old, who will leap from 85th to 25th in the world rankings, becomes only the third Canadian to win the prestigious home tournament in the Open era, joining Faye Urban (1969) and Bianca Andreescu (2019).
The final was a gripping contest marked by 13 service breaks in 25 games, with Mboko converting eight of nine break points. After Osaka’s final shot found the net, Mboko collapsed to her knees in celebration as the packed Toronto crowd erupted. The atmosphere was so electric that the umpire had to repeatedly call for silence between points.
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Congolese parents and raised in Toronto, Mboko stunned the tennis world by defeating four Grand Slam champions during the hard-court event including a dominant win over top-seeded Coco Gauff (6-1, 6-4), as well as victories over Sofia Kenin, Elena Rybakina, and Osaka.
For Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1, the result marked her best showing at a WTA 1000 event since the Miami final in 2022. Having taken a 15-month break before the birth of her daughter Shai in July 2023, she remains without a title since the 2021 Australian Open.
Mboko also joins an elite list as the third wild card to ever win a WTA 1000 tournament, following Maria Sharapova (Cincinnati 2011) and Andreescu (Indian Wells 2019).
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