Who is Victoria Mboko, the 18-year-old Canadian in the final in Montreal
The Canadian Open in the women’s version, which is played, like the men’s, in Montreal and Toronto in alternating years and at different venues (this year the men are in Toronto and the women in Montreal) has seen the realization of a real fairy tale: one of the home favorites, Victoria Mboko, has reached the final of the most important tournament in the country of the maple leaf.
Victoria was born on August 26, 2006 in the United States, to be precise in Charlotte, North Carolina, where her parents, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, had emigrated because of the, to put it mildly, difficult situation in their country. Soon after, another move to Canada, to Toronto, Ontario, where at age four the little girl picked up the tennis racket, the last to do so after her older brothers Gracia, Kevin and David.
In 2022, after going through the usual rigmarole in the junior categories, reaching the finals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in doubles in the same year paired with compatriot Kayla Cross, she made her debut on the major circuit in Granby, Quebec. She has won eight ITF circuit titles so far and reached the final this year in the WTA 125 on clay in Parma, beaten by Egyptian Mayar Sherif.
She started the year as world number 333, now up to 85. Her season record is 46 wins and 9 losses, 11-7 considering only the major circuit. But it was in Montreal that she accomplished her masterpiece: she beat, in order, Australian Kimberluy Birrell, 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin of the United States and Czech Maria Bouzkova. Then, in the round of 16, a two-set win over world No. 3 and tournament No. 1 favorite Coco Gauff.
Finally, another win over Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and tonight the last victim, Russian-Kazakhstan’s 2021 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina with a score of 1-6 7-5 7-6 in almost three hours. Now the last hurdle, Japan’s Naomi Osaka, another who would deserve a separate piece, former world No. 1 and winner of four Grand Slam tournaments, returning to a WTA 1000 final after three years, since she succeeded in 2022 in Miami: in the second semifinal she beat 6-2 7-6 Denmark’s Clara Tauson, a great promise that has so far never blossomed.
Mboko can become the first Canadian to win her home tournament since Bianca Andreescu, who in 2019 triumphed in Toronto by taking advantage in the final of Serena Williams’ withdrawal after a few games, whom she then defeated, however, in the US Open final, climbing to world No. 4 and then lost to countless injuries, the last just a few days ago in Montreal as she was winning (and then won) against Barbora Krejcikova.
Another Canadian who has been completely lost in recent years, but for different reasons, is Eugenie Bouchard, a 2014 Wimbledon finalist and former world No. 5. Canadians must hope that the same thing, if she reaches the top 10 in women’s tennis, will not happen to Mboko, who meanwhile is already sure to rise to world number 34 by the end of the tournament, and if she wins the final will be number 25, just behind Osaka, who if she wins will rise from number 49 to number 21.
