An 18-year-old Canadian wild card, Victoria Mboko, shocked four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka with a score of 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, securing her first WTA 1000 title on home turf at the Canadian Open.

After losing the first set in the final match, Mboko demonstrated her resilience and determination by breaking Osaka in the opening game of the second set, which appeared to disrupt Osaka’s rhythm, despite her managing to break back twice during that set.

Mboko maintained her momentum into the final set, easily clinching victory against a disheartened opponent, fulfilling a destiny that seemed preordained from the moment she arrived in Montreal.

This win elevates Mboko to a career-high ranking of No. 25 in the WTA standings, ensuring she will be seeded for the first time at a Grand Slam in New York later this month. Since 1970, she is the second Canadian to reach the semifinals, finals, and win the Canadian Open, following Bianca Andreescu’s success in 2019.

Entering the tournament, Mboko was ranked 85th globally. Her triumph makes her the second-lowest ranked player to secure a Tier I / WTA 1000 title since the format was established in 1990.

She is also the second player since 2009 to win her first title at a WTA 1000 event. Additionally, Mboko is the second wild card to claim victory at the National Bank Open, following Monica Seles in 1995.

Her two-week journey included four wins over Grand Slam champions: Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, and Osaka. Gauff and Rybakina were seeded No. 1 and No. 3, respectively. This marks the first occurrence of such a feat in a single tournament since Ons Jabeur and Elina Svitolina at Wimbledon 2023, although they were not teenagers. Mboko is the second-youngest player in history to defeat four Grand Slam champions in a single WTA event during the Open Era, with the first being Serena Williams in 1999.

At just 18 years old, she is the first Canadian woman to compete against four former Women’s Singles Grand Slam champions and the first to defeat all four in a single WTA event during the Open Era.