MONTREAL — Against all odds, Victoria Mboko has made Canadian tennis history.

The 18-year-old Toronto product played through a wrist injury and beat Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Thursday in the final of the National Bank Open presented by Rogers before another sellout crowd at IGA Stadium.

Mboko is the first Canadian in history to win an NBO singles title in Montreal. She’s just the third Canadian champ overall of the WTA Tour 1000 event in the Open era (since 1968).

The same teenager was playing at a tiny event in Croatia one year ago and lost in the first round to a player currently not even in the top 800. 

This week, Mboko knocked off four Grand Slam champions, capped by a win over a four-time Grand Slam winner in the final. She’ll be 25th in the rankings Friday after being outside the top 300 to start 2025 and 85th to start this tournament.

Mboko, who is 53-9 on the year, earns $752,275 for the win. She didn’t have $400,000 in earnings for 2025 prior to this tournament, which was just her seventh WTA Tour main draw.

Mboko was playing with her right wrist taped up after she suffered an injury while falling early in the third set of a wild, final-set tiebreak win over 2022 Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina on Tuesday.

Sportsnet’s Danielle Michaud reported before the final that Mboko remained at the tournament site until the wee hours of the morning to get treatment. She then woke up with the wrist in pain and swollen. Mboko opted to go for an MRI, which showed no structural damage, clearing her to play.

Just like the previous night, Mboko rallied after a one-sided loss in the first set.

After three breaks to open the third set (including one game where a frustrated Osaka hit a ball into the stands), Mboko finally held serve to take a 3-1 lead in a game that featured six deuces. The Canadian won it with a sweet drop shot, bringing the crowd to its feet. “Vicky, Vicky, Vicky” chants rang out after the beautiful touch.

Osaka, trying for her first title since 2021, didn’t have any answers after that. The crowd just got louder, and the momentum built until Mboko put it away.

Mboko somehow ran down a ball in the final game for one game, to the disbelief of Osaka, who thought it had bounced twice. That made the score 40-30, and Osaka didn’t win another point.

After a rough first set, Mboko hit a better level, breaking Osaka in her first four service games of the second set. But serving for the match, the wrist appeared to bother her. Mboko had three double-faults and was shaking her wrist after several points in what was an easy Osaka break. Mboko’s serve speed also went way down during the game.

Mboko’s serve was even less powerful in her next service game, going as low as 117 km/h. But Osaka was wobbly with groundstrokes, and Mboko got the hold and set on an unforced error by her opponent, drawing a roar from the crowd.

It was just the third NBO women’s final to feature two unseeded players, and the first since 1979. It was also the first WTA 1000 final to have two players outside the top 40 since the format’s introduction in 2009.

Just like in the semifinals, Mboko was shaky to start. She was way long on second serve on a break point for Osaka, putting the Canadian in an early 2-0 hole.

The crowd did its part to try to give Mboko a boost, with “Allez Vicky” and “Let’s go Vicky” yelled regularly. One boisterous group even bellowed “Yeah” when Osaka double-faulted in the first game.

But the crowd didn’t bother a clinical Osaka one bit. After Mboko got the fans out of their seats by saving three break points and winning her first service game to cut the deficit to 3-1, Osaka served to love to restore her comfortable edge.

Osaka finished the first set with her second break, as Mboko lost control of her forehand three times to give her opponent a relatively easy game. Osaka, meanwhile, was dominant with serve in the first set (70 per cent of first serves in, 73.9 per cent of first-serve points won)

Meanwhile, organizers announced their third Mboko sellout of the week about an hour before the final. The crowd included Quebec star athletes Lu Dort and Marie-Philip Poulin.

“You start the event and you never know what are going to be the storylines. And obviously, it’s been all about Vicky Mboko,” NBO Montreal tournament director Valerie Tetreault said before the match.

“I think we feel Montreal, Quebec and even across the country, everybody’s following what’s happening at this tournament and is inspired by this young woman, only 18 years of age, who keeps surprising us by her composure, her maturity, her level of play … and the self-belief that she has.”