Canadian teen Mboko outlasts Osaka to win WTA Montreal crown

MONTREAL: Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko conquered four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Thursday, capping a fairytale run at the WTA Canadian Open with her first WTA title.

Mboko, 18 and playing in her first WTA final, denied Osaka her first tour-level title since the 2021 Australian Open, wearing down the Japanese star, 27, who has struggled to find consistency since returning from maternity leave early in 2024.

Mboko, who was ranked outside the top 300 to start the season and had climbed to 85th entering the week, is now projected to rise to 34th in the world.

Before an ecstatic center court crowd, she converted eight of her nine break points, seizing her fourth win of the week over a Grand Slam winner.

She ousted former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the second round and toppled reigning French Open champion Coco Gauff in the fourth before saving a match point en route to a semifinal victory over former Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina.

Displaying vintage power and precision, Osaka gave her inexperienced opponent little room to maneuver in the first set, gaining an early break on the way to a 3-0 lead and pocketing the set when Mboko, who had 22 unforced errors in the set, mis-fired on two forehands to drop her serve a second time.

Mboko turned the tide in a second set that featured seven total breaks of serve. Osaka looked bewildered as Mboko ramped up the pressure, the Canadian breaking her at love for a 5-2 lead.

Serving for the set, however, Mboko coughed up three double faults and was broken. Osaka capitalized on the reprieve with a hold at love, but Mboko took the set in the next game when Osaka sailed a forehand long on set point.

Osaka appeared demoralized as she was