Victoria Mboko stuns Naomi Osaka to win 2025 Canadian Open title in Montreal

Canadian teenage sensation Victoria Mboko has etched her name in tennis history, overcoming a wrist injury and former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka to win the 2025 National Bank Open title on Friday. The 18-year-old battled from a set down to claim a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory in front of an electrified home crowd at Montreal’s IGA Stadium.

This remarkable win marks Mboko’s first WTA Tour title, making her only the third Canadian in the Open Era—after Faye Urban (1969) and Bianca Andreescu (2019) to win their home tournament.

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Mboko, who began 2025 ranked outside the top 300, will now surge from world No. 85 to No. 25 in the latest WTA rankings. Her fairytale run in Montreal included victories over four Grand Slam champions: Coco Gauff, Sofia Kenin, Elena Rybakina, and finally Osaka.

The turning point came in the third set of the final when Mboko saved four break points in a tense fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. From that moment, she never looked back.

“When I had that winning moment and saw so many people standing up and cheering for me, it was surreal,” Mboko said post-match. “It proves that your dreams are closer than they seem.”

The victory was even more impressive given Mboko was nursing a stiff and swollen wrist after a heavy fall in her semi-final match against Rybakina. She underwent urgent medical checks including X-rays and an MRI, just a day before the final.

“There were moments where it was aggravating me a lot,” she admitted. “But I kept telling myself, ‘It’s the final, one more to go.’”

Osaka’s Best Run since 2022

For Naomi Osaka, this was her best performance at a WTA 1000 tournament since reaching the Miami Open final in 2022. The four-time Grand Slam champion, who took a 15-month break from the tour and welcomed her daughter Shai in July 2023, looked sharp early on but could not match Mboko’s resilience in the latter stages.

Canadian Tennis’ Rising Star

Born in Charlotte, North Carolina to Congolese parents and raised in Toronto, Mboko has been one of the breakout stars of 2025. She began the year by winning four consecutive ITF titles in January and February, adding a fifth in March. Her rapid rise has made her a fan favourite in Canadian tennis.

Mboko is coached by Nathalie Tauziat, a former world No. 3, 1998 Wimbledon finalist, and 1997 Billie Jean King Cup champion.

With her win in Montreal, Mboko has firmly established herself as one of the brightest young talents in women’s tennis. Tennis fans are already eager to see how she performs in the upcoming US Open, where she could be a dangerous opponent for the tour’s top seeds.