Who is Victoria Mboko? The rising Canadian youngster who won
An 18-year-old tennis prodigy storming through a WTA event, knocking out ranked players and winning the title for the first time in their profession. No, we’re not discussing Emma Raducanu’s run to the US Open last in 2021, but rather Victoria Mboko’s eerily similar surge to the last of the Canadian Open in Montreal.
Yet, where Raducanu’s charge from qualifier to title winner came out of the blue, Mboko’s run feels more like the conclusion of an exceptional season.
The teen started 2025 ranked outside the top 300 players on the ladies’s trip, but a breakthrough year saw her win 22 succeeding matches in January and February to clinch 4 ITF songs titles. By early May, her win-loss record for the season was 33– 3.
Her success sent her inside the leading 200 in the rankings and earned her a wildcard entry into a very first WTA 1000 main draw at the Miami Open where she beat Camila Osorio in the first round. Mboko then qualified for the Italian Open and was beaten by Coco Gauff in the 2nd round regardless of taking the opening triggered the American.
Two grand slam appearances followed, the first at the French Open, where Mboko hammered out certifying and made it to the third round, and the 2nd at Wimbledon, where she lost to Hailey Baptiste.
But the best was yet to come.
Mboko was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, however was raised in Toronto and is a Canadian citizen. The National Bank Open is her “home” competition, and a straight-sets win over Kimberly Birrell in the opening round started her amazing run.
That victory shot her to a career-best No 85 worldwide rankings, however her run through the competition in Montreal is set to propel her inside the leading 50.
Sofia Kenin and Rybakina on her method to the final(AP)On her way to the semi-finals, she dropped simply one set, versus the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova, having seen off skilled threats such as Sofia Kenin and Gauff in a rematch of their Italian Open conference. Mboko was the superior player this time around and swept the No 1 seed aside 6-1, 6-4 in the round of 16.
Observers may have believed her remarkable tournament would end in the last four, as she was drawn against 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, however Mboko revealed how strong her psychological game is along with an outstanding physical efficiency.
Rybakina stormed through the first set, winning it 6-1, and had a match point in the second, which Mboko handled to conserve. After that, she dug deep to take the set before clinching a choosing set tie break in front of adoring home advocates to end up being the first Canadian to beat 3 former grand slam champs in a single WTA occasion in the Open age.
“I had everybody supporting me and pressing me through. Without you guys, I do not believe I would’ve had the ability to pull this through,” she stated after defeating Rybakina.
Mboko was just the third wildcard to reach the last at the Canadian Open in the Open period, after Monica Seles in 1995 and Simona Halep in 2015.
She faced Naomi Osaka for the opportunity to win a very first WTA title, the four-time grand slam champ having actually scheduled her location in a WTA final for the first time given that Miami in 2022. Osaka, the very first Japanese player to reach the final at the Canadian Open and had something to prove after a lean duration in her own career.
Yet, Mboko’s fairy tale run could not be rejected as the teenager came from a set down to clinch a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory and become just the third Canadian to win their home occasion.
Winning the title in Montreal is the crowning achievement of Mboko’s incredible year, however it is only the start of what might be a fascinating profession for the Canadian teen. This victory will be simply a stepping stone for Mboko, who has an intense future ahead of her.