Montreal’s tennis faithful witnessed history on August 8, 2025, as Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko delivered a performance for the ages, defeating four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 to capture her first WTA Tour title at the Canadian Open. The 18-year-old’s improbable run—marked by resilience, grit, and a dash of homegrown magic—has not only electrified the crowd at IGA Stadium but also signaled the arrival of a new star on the women’s circuit.
Mboko’s journey to the championship was nothing short of extraordinary. Entering the tournament as a wild card, the Toronto native was ranked outside the top 300 at the start of the year and had only recently climbed to 85th in the world. By the time the trophy was hoisted, she had leapt all the way to No. 24, making her the youngest Canadian woman ever to reach—and win—the final of her country’s most prestigious tennis event. Only Faye Urban (1969) and Bianca Andreescu (2019) had previously managed to claim this crown on home soil in the Open Era.
It wasn’t just the numbers that made Mboko’s run remarkable. Along the way, she toppled three Grand Slam winners—World No. 2 Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, and Sofia Kenin—before facing Osaka, one of her childhood idols, in the final. “It’s been an incredible week here. Montreal, je vous aime!” Mboko exclaimed in her post-match interview, her voice trembling with emotion as the crowd erupted in cheers. The atmosphere was so electric that the umpire had to repeatedly ask fans to quiet down during points, a testament to the feverish support for their new hometown hero.
The final itself was a rollercoaster. Osaka, who was contesting her fifth WTA 1000 final on hard court with a 2-2 record in such matches, came out firing, capturing the opening set 6-2. The Japanese star, returning to top-tier tennis after a 15-month hiatus to give birth to her daughter Shai in July 2023, looked poised to spoil the party. But Mboko, undeterred by the magnitude of the occasion—or the pain in her wrist that had her rushing to the hospital for X-rays and an MRI just hours before the match—found another gear.
“Today was such an eventful day actually,” Mboko admitted, often shaking her wrist in visible discomfort. “It feels unbelievable right now. I mean, words cannot really describe how today went. There’s some moments where it was aggravating me a lot, but I feel like it was the final. I just kept saying to myself, ‘You have one more to go.’”
The second set saw Mboko dig deep, breaking Osaka’s serve at crucial moments and capturing it 6-4. The decisive third set turned on a pivotal fourth game, where Mboko saved four break points to take a 3-1 lead. From there, she never looked back, reeling off game after game as Osaka’s resistance faded. When Osaka’s final shot found the net, Mboko fell to her knees in disbelief before sprinting to embrace her family and coaches.
The match was a showcase of nerves and shot-making under pressure, with a remarkable 13 service breaks in 25 games. Mboko converted eight of her nine break points, a testament to her composure in the biggest moments. The packed Montreal house responded with deafening applause, their cheers echoing long after the final ball was struck.
Mboko’s story has captured the imagination of tennis fans far beyond Canada’s borders. Sky Sports Tennis commentator Jonathan Overend summed up the sentiment: “What a story, something that has really captured the imagination of the world outside of tennis, with the emergence of a new potential superstar. This is an 18-year-old wild card who has just won a top-tier tournament, at home in Canada, and by beating a four-time Grand Slam champion in the final. Such an exciting performance. She came back from a set down three times over the course of the event and in both of the last two rounds. She also beat four Grand Slam champions in total across the draw—Osaka, Rybakina, Gauff and Kenin. These things do not happen every day, so let’s revel in it. What an achievement!”
For Osaka, the defeat was bittersweet. Her run to the Montreal final marked her best performance at a WTA 1000 tournament since reaching the Miami final in 2022. After stepping away from the sport for over a year, Osaka’s return has been followed closely by fans and pundits alike. She handled the loss with characteristic grace, even joking in the pre-final press conference about Mboko’s admiration: “It’s really cute. I guess I have to have a really good attitude tomorrow. I can’t let her not like me anymore.”
Mboko’s victory is not just a personal milestone, but a symbolic moment for Canadian tennis. Following in the footsteps of Andreescu, whose own breakout win in 2019 inspired a generation, Mboko is poised to become the new face of the sport in her country. Her combination of patience, resilience, and maturity—praised by commentators and coaches alike—suggests that this may be just the beginning.
Adding to the weekend’s excitement, the men’s final in Toronto saw American Ben Shelton rally from a set down to defeat Karen Khachanov 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) and claim his first Masters 1000 title. Play in Toronto was even briefly halted as fans celebrated news of Mboko’s triumph in Montreal, a rare moment of cross-city tennis jubilation. Shelton, too, spoke of the surreal feeling of winning such a big title: “It’s been a long week, not an easy path to the final. My best tennis came out when it mattered most. I was clutch, I persevered, I was resilient. All the qualities I like to see in myself.”
With the US Open just around the corner, all eyes will be on Mboko to see if she can continue her remarkable ascent. For now, though, Montreal—and all of Canada—can bask in the glow of a homegrown champion, whose dream run has already become the stuff of tennis legend.
