Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko defied a swollen right wrist to come from a set down on Friday to outwit the four-time major champion Naomi Osaka and claim her first senior tour title at the Canadian Open.
The 18-year-old, who was given an invitation into the main draw by the organisers, won 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 and joins Faye Urban and Bianca Andreescu as the only home-town players to take the crown at the 133-year-old tournament since tennis became open to professional players in 1968.
To the roars and cheers of the partisans watching on centre court, Mboko dropped to her knees after Osaka fired a shot into the net.
Mboko then ran to hug her family and coaches in the court-side box.
“Seeing so many people standing up and cheering for me, it was kind of a surreal experience,” said Mboko whose parents fled the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1999 for the United States before settling in Canada.
"I would have never thought something like this would have come so suddenly. It just proves that your dreams are closer than they seem.
“It’s been an incredible week here in Montreal.”
In her run to the title, Mboko overcame four players who had won titles at the four Grand Slam tournaments in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.
In the first round on 30 July, Mboko ousted the 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin.
In the last-16 three days later, she saw off the 2025 French Open champion Coco Gauff.
In the semis, Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, was dispatched. Osaka, who has won two US and two Australian Opens, was dismantled in two hours and five minutes.
"I don't really want to take up too much time," said Osaka. "So I will just say thank you to everyone. Thank you to my team, the ball kids, the organisers and the volunteers."
On Wednesday, in the final set of the match against Rybakina, Mboko fell heavily and on Thursday went to hospital for X-rays and an MRI scan on her wrist.
She was given the all-clear to play just before the final.
“There’s some moments where my wrist was aggravating me a lot and it was hard to move, but I feel like it was the final. I just kept saying to myself: ‘You have one more to go.’”
Following the victory, Mboko will rise 60 places to 25th in the WTA world rankings and feature for the first time among the seeded players at the US Open in New York, which starts on 24 August.
