Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko staged a shocking comeback on Thursday to defeat four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, claiming her maiden WTA 1000 title at Canadian Open 2025.
The 18-year-old staged a outstanding comeback after dropping the opening set to the Japanese former world primary, who had established a 3-0 lead as Mboko struggled with expensive service errors.
Nonetheless, the house favorite discovered her rhythm within the second set, breaking serve to determine a 5-2 lead. Osaka struggled to catch up, and her poor returns allowed Mboko to stage the match and drive a decider.
The decisive second got here within the third set, when Mboko took a 3-1 lead after saving 4 break factors in a pivotal fourth recreation that gave her a agency grip on the match as she went on to assert the title after two hours and 4 minutes of play.
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“I need to thank Naomi from an unimaginable match. I’ve all the time appeared as much as her after I was little or no. It’s all the time nice to play with such an incredible participant such as you,” Mboko stated.
“I couldn’t be extra grateful,” she added.
Mboko, presently ranked eighty fifth on the earth, turned the primary Canadian to defeat three former Grand Slam champions in a single WTA occasion within the Open Period, with victories over Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina.
For Osaka, who was making an attempt to revive her profession after an inconsistent interval following her return from maternity depart, the defeat introduced her groundbreaking event to an finish.
This loss additionally prolonged Osaka’s title drought; her final triumph got here on the 2021 Australian Open.