Canadian teen Victoria Mboko completes dream run in Montreal
with first WTA Tour title
TORONTO/MONTREAL, Aug 8: Ben Shelton won the National Bank Open for the third and biggest title of his young career, rallying to beat 11th -seeded Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (3).
The 22-year-old Shelton, seeded fourth, became the first American winner in the Masters 1000 hard-court event since Andy Roddick in 2003. Shelton also won on hard courts in Tokyo in 2023 and on clay in Houston last year.
“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.” Shelton will move up a spot to a career-high sixth in the world. He beat Khachanov a night after topping second-seeded Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3 in an all-American semifinal match.
“I feel like it was a perfect storm for me this week,” Shelton said. “A lot of tight matches and long matches. I played some of the best tennis that I’ve played this year.”
The winner had seven of his 16 aces in the third set, and ended the match by winning 14 consecutive points on serve. He held at love to force the final-set tiebreaker.
“He went for his shots, trusted the work that he’s put in and he executed,” said Bryan Shelton, his father and coach.
“Sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t. But it’s always nice when you can leave a tournament and hold a trophy up in your hands because it’s rare.”
The 29-year-old Khachanov has seven career victories – all on hard courts. In the semifinals, he survived a match point in another third-set tiebreaker against top-seeded Alexander Zverev.
“It’s a positive, a great tournament, a great run,” Khachanov said. “I had some great battles and great wins against top guys.” Top-ranked Jannik Sinner – the 2023 winner in Toronto – and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz skipped the expanded event as they prepare the U.S. Open.
Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool won the all-English doubles final, saving four match points in a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 13-11 victory over Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski.
The second-seeded Wimbledon champions have won 19 straight matches.
CANADA’S MBOKO WINS FIRST WTA TITLE
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko completed a dream run to the National Bank Open title, overcoming a slow start to beat Japanese star Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.
The 18-year-old Mboko – who will jump from 85th to 25th in the world – won her first WTA Tour title and joined Faye Urban in 1969 and Bianca Andreescu in 2019 as the only Canadians to win the home event in the open era.
Mboko dropped to her knees after Osaka fired a shot into the net as a raucous packed house burst into cheers around center court. winner ran to hug her family and coaches in the courtside box.The crowd was so rowdy, the umpire repeatedly asked fans to “please be quiet during the points.” “It’s been an incredible week here in Montreal,” Mboko told the crowd. “Montreal, je vous aime!” After the match, when the crowd applauded Osaka with some yelling mixed in, she said, “Thanks, I guess,” and did not congratulate Mboko. Osaka later declined to speak to the media.
There were 13 service breaks in 25 games, with Mboko converting eight of nine break points. Fighting a wrist problem after a fall Wednesday, Mboko had 13 double-faults.
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Congolese parents, Mboko grew up in Toronto. She beat four majors champions in the hard-court event, routing top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 and also topping Osaka, Sofia Kenin and Elena Rybakina.
Osaka, the four-time Grand Slam champion who reached No. 1 in the world, had her best performance in a WTA 1000 tournament since also reaching the Miami final in 2022. She stepped away for 15 months toward the end of that season and had daughter Shai in July 2023. She’s winless since the 2021 Australian Open.
Mboko is the third wild card to win a WTA 1000 title event, following Maria Sharapova at Cincinnati in 2011 and Andreescu at Indian Wells in 2019. (AP)