Homegrown superstar Victoria Mboko just turned Toronto into a city full of tennis fanatics

It’s official: Victoria Mboko is the best thing to happen to tennis since Challengers. After a fairy tale run at the National Bank Open, the 18-year-old breakout star from Burlington beat the legendary Naomi Osaka in a stunning 2–6, 6–4, 6–1 win last night.

Mboko was relatively unknown when she entered the Montreal tournament as a wild card. Now, she’s the first Canadian to win the prestigious competition since Bianca Andreescu in 2019 and has matched a record set by a 17-year-old Serena Williams at the 1999 US Open.

Related: How Olympic tennis player Bianca Andreescu spends a day off in Toronto

Mboko beat three Grand Slam winners—world-ranked number two Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Sofia Kenin—before facing off against Osaka, whom she has referred to as her idol. She pushed through a wrist injury and a rattling first set to secure the win, cheered on by a stadium of euphoric Canadian fans.

Mboko’s explosive rise and sheer grit has electrified tennis fans and sports agnostics alike. In Toronto, the city’s infatuation with her story reached the point where, midway through the men’s tournament final on the same evening, the crowd erupted into applause only for commentators to realize fans were reacting to Mboko’s win 500 kilometres away.

Born in North Carolina to Congolese parents and raised in the GTA, Mboko watched her three older tennis-playing siblings from the sidelines until she was old enough to join them. Beaming after the win, she spoke about the victory with her signature modesty, citing family support and sibling rivalry as her main drivers to succeed.

Until last year, Mboko was still competing in minor tournaments with prize pots barely cracking four digits. Last night’s win shot her WTA ranking up from 85 to 24, making her the highest-ranked player in Canada and earning her a cool $752,257 US. We’d say she has more than a little to brag about.