MONTREAL: Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko conquered four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 to secure her maiden WTA Tour title at the Canadian Open in Montreal on Thursday, while American Ben Shelton clinched his first ATP Masters 1000 title as he defeated Karen Khachanov 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) in Toronto.

Eighteen-year-old wild card Mboko, playing in her first WTA final, denied former world number one Osaka her first tour-level title since the 2021 Australian Open, wearing down the Japanese star, 27, who has struggled to find consistency since returning from maternity leave early in 2024, to cap a remarkable fortnight at home.

It was Mboko’s fourth win over a Grand Slam champion in the tournament after the world number 85, who is now projected to rise to 34th in the world, defeated former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, reigning French Open champion Coco Gauff and former Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina en route to the final.

“These past two weeks have been insane,” said Mboko, who began the year ranked number 333. “Even getting the wild card to play here ... I was super happy to be playing in Montreal for the first time ever. I just remember feeling nervous, but really taking in the moment as much as I possibly could.

“When I won my first round, I was super happy and super content. I would have never thought that I would have made it to the final let alone win the tournament. I have so many emotions going through my head, I can’t even express it.”

Before an ecstatic center-court crowd of 11,000, local favourite Mboko found her rhythm in the second set, breaking serve to establish a 5-2 lead as Osaka struggled with her returns, and she capitalised to level up the contest and force a decider.

The decisive moment came in the third set, when Mboko took a 3-1 lead after saving four break points in a pivotal fourth game that gave her a firm grip on the match.

Osaka, who came into the tournament ranked 49th in the world, had appeared energized in Mont­real after a coaching shakeup. But she couldn’t maintain her positive attitude as Mboko pulled away for the win after two hours and four minutes of play.

“It’s kind of funny. This morning I was very grateful. I don’t know why my emotions flipped so quickly, but I’m happy to have played in the final,” she said. “I’m happy to have played the final. Victoria played really well. I completely forgot to congratulate her on the court, but she did really amazing.”

In the men’s final, world number seven Shelton capped off an impressive week that saw him beat Italian 13th seed Flavio Cobolli, Australian ninth seed Alex de Minaur and American second seed Taylor Fritz on his way to becoming the first American to win a Masters 1000 title in Canada in more than two decades.

The 22-year-old is the youngest American man to win a Masters 1000 since former world number one Andy Roddick at Miami in 2004. His other two titles came in Tokyo in 2023 and Houston in 2024.

“It’s a surreal feeling,” Shelton said. “It’s been a long week, not an easy path to the final. My best tennis came out when it mattered most. I was clutch, I persevered, I was resilient. All the qualities I like to see in myself.”

With the triumph, Australian Open semi-finalist Shelton will rise one place to sixth in the world rankings, overtaking 24-time Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic in the table.

Khachanov seemed to be on course for victory when he took a 5-3 lead in the opening set, but fourth seed Shelton fought back to break serve and take a 6-5 lead. Khachanov, 29, then recovered to force a tiebreak and capitalised on a series of errors from Shelton to claim the first set.

The second set brought its own twist, when technical issues halted play at 2-2 with players unable to hear audio calls from the electronic line-calling system.

Once play resumed and after Shelton complained, Khachanov surged to a 4-3 lead. However, the resilient Shelton broke again to edge ahead 5-4 and saved four break points to clinch the second set, forcing a decider, which ended in a tiebreak dominated by Shelton.

The victory in two and three-quarter hours denied 11th seed Khachanov a chance to win a second Masters shied more than six years after he won his first at Paris Bercy in 2018.

“It’s painful to lose in the final ... yesterday I won 7-6 in the third. Today I lost,” said Khachanov, who knocked out top seed Alexander Zverev in the semis after a near three-hour battle. “But thanks to my team for a great result here. I have a big team. The rest of the team is at home, everybody is awake watching all my matches ... We win and we lose together. It’s okay.”

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2025