Canadian teenage sensation Victoria Mboko completed a dream run by winning the National Bank Open title in Montreal, battling a wrist injury and coming back from a set down to beat former world No 1 Naomi Osaka 2-6 6-4 6-1 in the final.
The 18-year-old Mboko – who started the year outside the top 300, and now jumps from 85th to 25th in the world – claims her first WTA Tour title and joins Faye Urban (1969) and Bianca Andreescu (2019) as the only Canadians to win their home event in the Open Era.
When Osaka fired a shot into the net on match point, Mboko dropped to her knees in celebration before running over to hug her family and coaches in the courtside box.
A raucous packed house in Montreal greeted Mboko’s success with huge cheers. The crowd was so rowdy throughout the match, in fact, that the umpire repeatedly asked fans to “please be quiet during the points”.
“When I had that winning moment and seeing so many people standing up and cheering for me, it was kind of a surreal experience,” said Mboko after her stunning win.
“I would have never thought something like this would have come so suddenly. It just proves that your dreams are closer than they [seem].”
Mboko added: “It’s been an incredible week here. Montreal, je vous aime!”
After the match, when the crowd applauded Osaka with some yelling mixed in, she said, “Thanks, I guess,” and she did not congratulate Mboko. The four-time Grand Slam champion later declined to speak to the media.
There were 13 service breaks in 25 games during the final, with Mboko converting eight of her nine break points. And she did it with a stiff and swollen wrist that was “hard to move.”
After falling hard in the third set of her semi-final win over Elena Rybakina, Mboko woke up on Thursday morning and rushed to the hospital for X-rays and an MRI, but ultimately received the green light to play.
“Today was such an eventful day actually,” said Mboko, who often shook 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.'”
Mboko’s fairytale run to the title included wins over four majors champions, routing top-seeded Coco Gauff in straight sets as well as toppling Sofia Kenin, Rybakina and then Osaka in the final.
It was Osaka’s best performance in a WTA 1000 tournament since also reaching the Miami final in 2022. She stepped away for 15 months toward the end of that season and had daughter Shai in July 2023.
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AloJapan.com