Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko clinched a spot in the National Bank Open final in Montreal with a dramatic 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) victory over ninth seed Elena Rybakina on Wednesday. The 18-year-old Mboko saved a match point in the deciding set and ultimately broke Rybakina twice to force a tiebreak, where she sealed the win. Overwhelmed by the crowd’s support, Mboko, speaking in French, said, “Incredible match, thank you to everyone for supporting me. It was really difficult, but anything can happen.”

Mboko, ranked 85th globally, will face Naomi Osaka in the final on Thursday night. Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1, advanced after defeating the 16th-seeded Clara Tauson 6-2, 7-6 (7). This performance marks Osaka’s best show in a WTA 1000 event since reaching the Miami final in 2022.

Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Congolese parents and raised in Toronto, Mboko has had an impressive run in Montreal. She upset top seed Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals and followed it up with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. The match against Rybakina—the 2022 Wimbledon champion and holder of nine WTA titles—lasted nearly three hours, making it the longest of Mboko’s brief tour career.

Despite struggling with 11 double faults and a wrist injury sustained early in the third set, Mboko’s resolve didn’t waver. She is now poised to break into the top 40 rankings, rising from outside the top 300 at the start of the year. Should she win the title, she will join Faye Urban (1969) and Bianca Andreescu (2019) as the only Canadians to capture the National Bank Open in the open era.

Eighteen-year-old Victoria Mboko delivered one of the most remarkable performances of the WTA 1000 at the Omnium Banque Nationale in Montreal by overcoming a match point to win against No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina in a closely contested third-set tiebreak. Mboko’s comeback victory, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(4), marked her third triumph over a Grand Slam champion within nine days, a historic feat for any Canadian player at a single tournament.

Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, was on the brink of victory before Mboko’s resilience shone through. This win also positioned Mboko as the first Canadian woman to reach the final at this flagship tournament in Montreal, distinguished as one of four home players to do so in the event’s Open Era history.

Additionally, Mboko became only the third wild card entrant to make the final since the tournament’s inception in 1968, underscoring the rarity and significance of her run.

Her achievement is not only a milestone for Canadian tennis but also a demonstration of emerging young talent on the WTA tour.

Venus Williams’ return to the WTA Tour at the Cincinnati Open marks her second event after a 16-month hiatus. Despite extensive media attention focused on her age, 45, Williams insists that age has never dictated her performance or goals. “I feel great,” she said before the tournament began. “You’re never too young or too old to win or to lose. Winning and losing knows no age.”

Williams’ career began at age 14, a memory she fondly recalls alongside a Rolling Stones concert playing nearby. “They didn’t know I was playing next door,” she said. “So, Mick Jagger, my message to you is that I was playing my first professional match next to you.”

Her absence from the tour has been due to health challenges, not age. In 2024, she underwent surgery for uterine fibroids and quietly fell off the rankings. Yet her commitment to tennis remained steady during her recovery. “I felt like I had time just to get well,” Williams explained. “When I was on the court, I was always working on my game. Even if it was just a half hour, I still wanted to get something out of it.”

Her recent return at the Mubadala Citi DC Open saw Williams secure her first singles win since 2023, defeating Peyton Stearns in straight sets. She became the oldest woman to win a match on tour since Martina Navratilova two decades ago and also advanced in doubles with Hailey Baptiste. She credits love as the sustaining force behind her comeback. “Love is the key, right? If you don’t love it, then get out of it if you can, if you have that luxury,” she said.

Williams’ philosophy centers on living life on her own terms, unapologetically and without regrets. “Your terms should be yours. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says or thinks. I do what I do because I want to live life the way I want to, unapologetically, with no regrets, on my terms,” she shared. “Do my terms always come out the way I want them to? No. But at least I tried to live on my own terms, and that’s super important to me.”

Looking ahead, Williams plans to compete through the US Open, remaining noncommittal about extending her return beyond 2025. “I’m very much in the moment. I don’t think you should ever rule me out. That’s all I can say.”