For the second straight WTA tournament, a Canadian is in the final. On Thursday, Victoria Mboko of Burlington, Ontario is in the final of the 2025 National Bank Open from IGA Stadium in Montreal, Quebec.
On Wednesday in the semifinals, Mboko upset the ninth seed and 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 1-6, 7-5, 7-6. What was spectacular of Mboko’s play was her overall resiliency. Mboko broke Rybakina in the third set when Rybakina was serving for the match not just once, but twice. Rybakina was up 5-4 and 6-5 in the third set, but was unable to win the necessary games when the odds were heavily in her favour. Then in the third set tiebreak, Mboko won 7-4.
This was the first time that Mboko has beaten Rybakina. Mboko actually lost to Rybakina 6-3, 7-5 in the second round of the 2025 Citi Open in Washington, D.C. This was the same tournament earlier this summer that Leylah Annie Fernandez of Montreal won. In the final, Fernandez defeated Anna Kalinskaya of Russia in the final 6-1, 6-2.
In the National Bank Open final, Mboko, who is 85th in the world, will play Naomi Osaka of Japan, the 49th seed in the world. This will be their first ever meeting. Osaka is a four-time grand slam champion as she won the 2018 and 2020 United States Open, and 2019 and 2021 Australian Open.