Canadian 18-year-old Victoria Mboko completed a Cinderella run at the National Bank Open, defeating Japanese star Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Thursday night to capture the WTA 1000 title in Montreal.
Mboko became the third Canadian woman to win her national open following Faye Urban (1969) and Bianca Andreescu (2019). Mboko won her first WTA title of any kind and will rocket to No. 25 in the world rankings next week.
When Osaka gave her the match-winning point by hitting a back-handed shot into the net, Mboko dropped her racquet and went to her knees while covering her face.
“It’s been an incredible week here in Montreal,” Mboko said. “… I also want to thank Naomi for an incredible match. I’ve always looked up to her when I was really little, so it’s always great to play with such an amazing player like you.”
Mboko, a native of Burlington, Ontario, concluded her speech to the crowd with, “Montreal, je vous aime,” French for, “Montreal, I love you.”
Osaka’s post-match speech to the crowd was noteworthy because she did not congratulate or acknowledge Mboko.
“I don’t really want to take up too much time, so I’ll just say thank you to everyone. Thank you to my team, thank you to the ball kids, thank you to the organizers and all the volunteers and I hope you guys had a good night,” a tearful Osaka said before leaving the microphone.
Osaka, 27, was vying for her first WTA victory since February 2021, when she captured her fourth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
Mboko’s stunning tournament was highlighted by a straight-sets upset of No. 1 seed Coco Gauff in the Round of 16. She also took down No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the semifinals, rallying from a set down just as she did in the final.
Osaka controlled the first set Thursday, winning the first three games and never facing a break point. Then came a topsy-turvy second set in which the returning player broke the server in each of the first five games, resulting in a 3-2 Mboko lead.
Mboko won a service game and broke Osaka again for a 5-2 lead en route to evening the match. After each woman broke the other to start the third set, Mboko ran the table by claiming the final five games.
The championship match featured 14 service breaks, more than half of the 25 total games.
That’s where Mboko found her advantage, as she converted 8 of 9 opportunities to break Osaka’s serve while saving 7 of 13 break points herself.
Cincinnati Open
Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain defeated Venus Williams 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round in Mason, Ohio.
Williams, 45, was in the field as a wild card as she continues her return to competitive tennis after more than a year away. Her next planned appearance will be in the U.S. Open mixed doubles draw with Reilly Opelka.
The opening day of action saw a trio of three-setters during the early action. Romania’s Sorana Cirstea beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-1, 4-6, 6-3; Mexico’s Renata Zarazua rallied past Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; and Germany’s Eva Lys battled past Bernarda Pera 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
Other winners included Maya Joint of Australia, Anastasia Potapova of Russia, Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, Aoi Ito of Japan, Olga Danilovic of Serbia, Tatjana Maria of Germany and Americans Clervie Ngounoue and Peyton Stearns.
–Field Level Media
