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 career. No, we’re not talking about Emma Raducanu’s run to the US Open final in 2021, but instead Victoria Mboko’s eerily similar surge to the final 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 culmination of a superb season.
The teenager began 2025 ranked outside the top 300 players on the women’s tour, but a breakthrough year saw her win 22 successive matches in January and February to clinch four ITF singles titles. By early May, her win-loss record for the season was 33–3.
Her success sent her inside the top 200 in the rankings and earned her a wildcard entry into a first WTA 1000 main draw at the Miami Open where she defeated Camila Osorio in the first round. Mboko then qualified for the Italian Open and was beaten by Coco Gauff in the second round despite taking the opening set off the American.
Two grand slam appearances followed, the first at the French Open, where Mboko fought through qualifying and made it to the third round, and the second at Wimbledon, where she lost to Hailey Baptiste.
But the best was yet to come.
Mboko was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, but was raised in Toronto and is a Canadian citizen. The National Bank Open is her “home” tournament, and a straight-sets win over Kimberly Birrell in the opening round kickstarted her remarkable run.
That victory shot her to a career-best No 85 in the world rankings, but her run through the tournament in Montreal is set to propel her inside the top 50.
On her way to the semi-finals, she dropped just one set, against the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova, having seen off experienced threats such as Sofia Kenin and Gauff in a rematch of their Italian Open meeting. Mboko was the superior player this time around and swept the No 1 seed aside 6-1, 6-4 in the round of 16.
Onlookers may have thought her remarkable tournament would end in the last four, as she was drawn against 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, but Mboko revealed how strong her mental game is alongside an impressive physical performance.
Rybakina stormed through the first set, winning it 6-1, and had a match point in the second, which Mboko managed to save. After that, she dug deep to take the set before clinching a deciding set tie break in front of adoring home supporters to become the first Canadian to beat three former grand slam champions in a single WTA event in the Open era.
“I had everyone supporting me and pushing me through. Without you guys, I don’t think I would’ve been able to pull this through,” she said after defeating Rybakina.
Mboko was just the third wildcard to reach the final at the Canadian Open in the Open era, after Monica Seles in 1995 and Simona Halep in 2015.
She faced Naomi Osaka for the chance to win a first WTA title, the four-time grand slam champion having booked her place in a WTA final for the first time since Miami in 2022. Osaka, the first Japanese player to reach the final at the Canadian Open and had something to prove after a lean period in her own career.
Yet, Mboko’s fairytale run could not be denied as the teenager came from a set down to clinch a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory and become only the third Canadian to win their home event.
Winning the title in Montreal is the crowning achievement of Mboko’s incredible year, but it is only the start of what could be a fascinating career for the Canadian teenager. This triumph will be just a stepping stone for Mboko, who has a bright future ahead of her.
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Victoria Mboko extends remarkable run in Montreal to set up Elena Rybakina semi-final
