Victoria Mboko celebrates her victory against Elena Rybakina in the semi-final singles women's match at the National Bank Open on Wednesday.Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
Young Canadian tennis sensation Victoria Mboko will face Naomi Osaka for the National Bank Open title on Thursday, after beating yet another top WTA player in never-say-die fashion.
The upstart 18-year-old, who has captured the attention of Canadians with her extraordinary run in Montreal, won an unforgettable semi-final over No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) on Wednesday.
In a match that was must-see TV across the country, in a packed IGA Stadium in Montreal, Mboko overcame a first-set loss and an injured wrist before gutting out the victory.
“It’s been a crazy night for me,” said the teenager. “For my first-ever final of a 1000, it’s unbelievable to even think about it, and I’m just really happy to be here and just to celebrate it with all the Canadian fans that came to watch.”
Next, the Canadian wildcard will face Osaka, the unseeded four-time Grand Slam champion from Japan, who advanced past Danish No.16-seed Clara Tauson 6-2, 7-6 (7). Mboko and Osaka have never played one another. The former World No.1 is having her best performance in a WTA 1000 tournament since reaching the final in Miami in 2022.
In 2019, Bianca Andreescu broke the 50-year stretch without a Canadian champion at the tournament since Faye Urban won it in 1969. Now Mboko will try to be the next homegrown champ.
Mboko came to Montreal ranked No. 85 and has vaulted herself into the top 35 with this win. She could be inside the top 25 before the tournament is over.
It was a sunny, hot night and IGA Stadium was bursting with fans, with Mboko’s parents, sister and brothers all among them. Thousands of fans waved red and white signs that read ALLEZ VICKY!
Spectators hold up signs in support of Victoria Mboko during the semi-final singles women's match at the National Bank Open on Wednesday.Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
Mboko got behind a break early, struggling to deliver in her first service game but she broke right back. But Rybakina proceeded to break Mboko in her next three service games. It was the first time in days that the routinely poised teen didn’t look in control.
The full stadium fell silent for a long while, except for when the two players dazzled with a 22-shot rally. The player from Kazakhstan won that rally, and soon the opening set too, in just 31 minutes.
Mboko looked to her coaches, including Nathalie Tauziat, the former World No. 3 (who had also made the semis at this tournament in 1990, where she lost to Steffi Graf). They looked calm and cool.
Rybakina and Mboko had just played for the first time two weeks earlier, in the round of 16 at the DC Citi Open in Washington, where Rybakina triumphed 6-3, 7-5.
She far outweighs Mboko in pro tennis experience. The 26-year-old, ranked No. 12 in the world, has nine career WTA titles to her name. She won Wimbledon in 2022. She had also reached the semi-finals in Montreal before, in 2023. Rybakina came into the match hoping a win would return her to the WTA’s top 10.
Rybakina was the third Grand Slam champion that Mboko faced in this tournament. In her string of five wins in Montreal to that point, the Canadian had already beat 2020 Australian Open champ Sofia Kenin and World No. 2 Coco Gauff, winner at Roland Garros (2025) and the U.S. Open (2023).
Mboko showed her resilience early in Wednesday’s second set, holding serve and wiggling out of some tricky situations in a long rally before delivering a big winner. She broke Rybakina early, which set the tone for a much tighter second set.
The confident teenager broke again and had a chance to serve for the set at 5-3. She blundered with a double fault, then thwacked a smash-worthy ball into the net. Instead, the tour veteran Rybakina squirmed out of it and broke back, then held serve to even the set and rachet up the tension.
Mboko mustered some of her biggest shots of the match and stole the set, pumping her fist, and mouthing “let’s go, let’s go” as she marched to her chair before the deciding third set. The sold-out crowd leapt to its feet. Rybakina escaped for a bathroom break.
The fresh face who had rarely featured in marquee night-time centre court matches before this tournament looked like a natural in the spotlight.
Early in the third set, Mboko stumbled and fell while moving laterally to chase down a ball and injured her right wrist. She boomed some big serves and held, before calling for doctors.
“It’s feeling a lot better,” said Mboko afterward. “It was during the match, a lot of adrenaline, it was kind of a little bit painful during that, but it’s definitely cooled down.”
They taped her wrist, and Mboko kept fighting. Rybakina earned an early break to inch ahead. The teen hung tight with one the of the hardest serving women in the game, the tour’s leader in aces. Then the older player managed another break, but the fiery youngster kept battling. Rybakina had match point at 5-4, and Mboko got out of it, as the crowd exploded.
Victoria Mboko celebrates her semi-final victory against Elena Rybakina in Montreal.Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
It was remarkable theatre, that culminated in a tiebreaker, an absolute slugfest.
“I think that she served really well in these important moments,” said Rybakina. “Overall I think it was very close match, like a big fight. So it could go any way, but it went hers. I think she played also really well.”
The improbable kid buried her head in her hands in disbelief when she got it done.
“On the match point I kind of had some nerves,” said Mboko. “I feel like I kind of lost a little bit, and she was really dominating. So to have gone through what I [went] through in the third set and to win it on the match point just felt really, really great.”
Mboko and Osaka will meet at 6pm ET on Thursday.