Canada was still catching its collective breath from Summer McIntosh’s record-breaking swims when 18-year-old Victoria Mboko grabbed the spotlight at the National Bank Open and never let go.
In front of a sold-out crowd in Montreal, the 85th-ranked Canadian wildcard finished her Cinderella title run on Thursday night by beating former world No 1 Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 to win her first WTA Tour title. Prolonged cheers for Mboko interrupted play 30 minutes into the men’s final being played concurrently 330 miles west in her hometown of Toronto.
“I guess the Canadian player won in Montreal,” chair umpire Fergus Murphy explained to the confused players.
That’s the Mboko effect.
With wins over four-time grand slam champion Osaka, reigning Roland Garros champion and world No 2 Coco Gauff, 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, and 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, Mboko became just the third teen in the open era to oust four major champions at a WTA event. She’s the youngest since Serena Williams ran the table to win the 1999 US Open.
If you find yourself in a “first since” or “youngest since” Serena stat, you know you’ve done something special.
“I think my biggest takeaway is the sky’s the limit,” Mboko told the Guardian after the win. “I never would have thought I would win a WTA 1000 so soon, that this would be my first WTA title, too.”
Mboko started the year ranked outside the top 300 and proceeded to win the first 20 matches she played, all in straight sets, and sweeping up five ITF titles in the first three months of the season. The bulk of her wins came at professional tennis’ minor league equivalent, but that stretch of play showed what Mboko could do if she got on a roll.
Maya Joint is a 19-year-old Australian who has already won two WTA titles in her breakout season. Along with Mboko and No 5 Mirra Andreeva, the trio are the only teenagers in the WTA’s top 90.
“Winning titles gives you a lot of confidence that you can do it,” Joint told the Guardian, “that you can win that many matches in a row and stay focused for that long.”
Mboko’s game has proven to be a difficult Rubik’s Cube to solve, even for the game’s best. It is as intelligent as it is physical, a potent blend of power and discipline. She can overwhelm her opponents with power or use her speed and defense to trap them into errors. The choice, on any given day, is hers.
“She’s very athletic,” said top-seeded Gauff after Mboko handed her a 6-1, 6-4 exit in the round of 16. “She’s a great ball striker, and she seems pretty positive out there on the court, doesn’t get really too negative.”
“I don’t know her too well, but I’ve gotten to talk to her a little bit over the course since Rome. I think she has a great support system around her, and…
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