Who is Victoria Mboko, the 18-year-old star making a 300-place jump in the WTA rankings after winning the Canadian Open?

The heavy favourites flattered to deceive at the Canadian Open, but there was a breakout performance from a little-known 18-year-old. Victoria Mboko beat Coco Gauff, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and Elena Rybakina to progress to the final in stunning style, before downing four-time major champion Naomi Osaka to take her first WTA title. It marked a stunning rise for the teenager ahead of the US Open.

‘It feels unbelievable right now’ - Mboko on winning maiden WTA Tour title

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There was one familiar name in the final of the Canadian Open, after Naomi Osaka beat Clara Tauson in straight sets.

But the other player across the net emerged seemingly from nowhere to put herself firmly on the map in Montreal.

Canadian Victoria Mboko, 18, enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence on home soil, and is up to world 24 after a stirring run in Montreal, having started the year at No. 333.

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First in Montreal she recorded a straight-sets upset of second seed Coco Gauff, who herself emerged as a precocious teenager just a few years ago.

Then after Mboko reached the semi-finals, she upset former Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina in three sets to make the final, the youngest Canadian to do so at her home event.

Per WTA, Mboko was the third wildcard to reach the final of the Canadian Open, after Monica Seles in 1995 and Simona Halep in 2015.

Her run in Montreal was anything but that of a plucky underdog. She was the first Canadian player to beat three former Grand Slam champions in the same event, according to the WTA - Rybakina, Gauff and Sofia Kenin all defeated on her way to the final.

"I had everyone supporting me and pushing me through," Mboko said in her on-court interview after beating Rybakina. "Without you guys, I don't think I would've been able to pull this through."

Victoria Mboko - Qinwen Zheng - Roland Garros highlights

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And Mboko's stunning ascent continued as she beat Osaka in the final - the two having never previously met.

It was a remarkable run for the tournament wild card who only made her WTA Tour debut in March.

Mboko was born in North Carolina in August 2006, before her family - who had left the Democratic Republic of the Congo - moved to Toronto two months later.

She played tennis from the age of three along with her siblings, urged on by her father, Cyprien.

"I have been watching tennis since I was very young," Cyprien Mboko said in an interview with OnTennis magazine.

"My friend and I, back home in the Congo, would watch [Andre] Agassi, [Jim] Courier, [Steffi] Graf and all the other great players.

"Tennis was good exercise for our children, but I must have bought about 1,000 balls from Walmart and they all seemed to end up in the bushes.

"At that point, we decided to see about some coaching. Gracia [Mboko's sister] was identified by a local tennis pro and he used to take her from Charlotte, where we were living, to Concord every day for training. I would pick her up after work."

Mboko said: "My sister and brothers have been really important for me. I probably would not have played tennis if not for them. They played with me and coached me."

Mboko will now be one of the names on everyone's lips ahead of the US Open later this month.

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