She faced Naomi Osaka for the chance to win a first WTA title, the four-time grand slam champion having booked her place in a WTA final for the first time since Miami in 2022. Osaka, the first Japanese player to reach the final at the Canadian Open and had something to prove after a lean period in her own career.

Victoria Mboko didn’t even have a picture on the WTA website before the National Bank Open in Montreal. Now, the 18-year-old is set to face Naomi Osaka in the first WTA final of her career.

Mboko has played so much tennis this season for one reason — because she wins and wins and wins some more. She’s just doing it on ever-bigger stages. In addition to Osaka and Rybakina, she beat world No. 2 Coco Gauff and 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin on the way to the title.