Who is Victoria Mboko? 18-year-old sensation who sealed incredible Canadian Open triumph

One of the leading stories at the 2025 Canadian Open was the 18-year-old Victoria Mboko who downed Coco Gauff to continue what has been an incredible season so far. She added Jessica Bouzas Maneiro to that list after reaching the semifinals in Montreal. She defeated the Spanish World No. 51  6-4, 6-2 in Monday night’s women’s singles match then went on to win the title.

Mboko has already made waves though this season rising towards the top 150 in the WTA Ranking earlier in the year after exploits at the Miami Open. But previously she was a juggernaut on the ITF circuit.

The account of the tour were quick to point this out on their social media. WTA said remember the name and ITF promptly pointed out they already know the name. She has won W35 titles in Le Lamentin, Petit-Bourg and Manchester as well as W75 titles in Rome and Porto.

She only had one defeat on the ITF Tour during the early days and was then given a wildcard into the Miami Open which she took with both hands. She saw off Camila Osorio but there was a steely determination there as she blocked out the noise and performed. But Mboko wasn't just a flash in the pan either for one tournament.

“I felt like in the match, a lot of the crowd was against me,” the 18-year-old said of the fans. “I’m kind of proud that I blocked all that noise out and kind of focused on myself more.”

“There were a lot of Canadians, too. I was kind of letting them in my head more.” But it is a run that Mboko wasn't even expecting herself when she started the season off. “If I had told myself, ‘You’re going to win three tournaments in a row,’ I’d be like, ‘What are you talking about?’”

The 18-year-old isn't a Mirra Andreeva type story but has went almost the Emma Navarro route in her findings. She made her WTA Tour Main Draw debut at the 2022 Canadian Open in the doubles but a first appearance as a wildcard as barely a teenager in Granby. Mboko reached the final of two Grand Slam junior tournaments in 2022.

So she has done the hard yards also on the junior tour. She reached the summit at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon but it was the ITF tour three years on where she thrived as she became an adult winning 22 successive matches without dropping a set no mind the 28 game unbeaten run she now has.

Navarro is perhaps a great case study as she herself grinded on ITF tournaments and WTA 125k tournaments and found her way high in the rankings after pouncing on these chances. In a world where top names don't want to go down a level, Mboko is perhaps the reason as she has swept aside competition consistently.

These aren't mugs either with Mboko seeing off Clervie Ngounoue twice and also Harriet Dart more recently. It is also a time where Canada needs a rising hope again.

Bianca Andreescu has been stop start on the tour since she won the US Open, Eugenie Bouchard plays pickleball now instead and Leylah Fernandez outside of doubles is perhaps their greatest hope albeit she goes in and out.

After Miami, she made her debut for Canada in the Billie Jean King Cup team against Romania in the qualifying round held in Tokyo as she started to weave herself into the fabric of the Canadian tennis psyche. She then qualified for Rome and defeated Arianna Zucchini in the first round. In the second round she faced Coco Gauff back then and won the first set before Gauff recovered to seal it 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.

She made her Grand Slam qualifying debut at the French Open defeating Sinj Kraus, Kathinka von Deichmann and Kaja Juvan advancing to her first main draw of a Grand Slam. She saw off Lulu Sun and Eva Lys to reach the third round for the first time in her career on what was her major debut. She became the only teenager ranked in the top 100 at World No.91 alongside Maya Joint and Mirra Andreeva. Then made more personal history by exacting revenge on Coco Gauff on Saturday to reach the Last 16 of the Canadian Open where she faces Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. A player in Mboko that we keep hearing about, it won't be long perhaps until she is in the higher echelons of the rankings. She already went up 30 spots from World No.85 and after defeating Naomi Osaka in the final, it was up 60 spots as she went up towards the top 20.