After a captivating 12 days of tennis, it would have been hard to script a more fitting grand finale to the National Bank Open presented by Rogers on Thursday night in Montreal.
Victoria Mboko will look to complete her Cinderella run in truly remarkable fashion against Naomi Osaka, one of tennis’ all-time greats.
The 18-year-old Canadian once against sent a sold-out IGA Stadium into a frenzy with a dramatic 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(4) victory over former Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina, a contest during which she saved a match point while trailing 4-5 in the third set.
In the final, Mboko will face a four-time Grand Slam champion and World No. 1 who is enjoying an exciting resurgence in Montreal. Osaka put on another ball striking clinic during her 6-2, 7-6(7) semi-final win over Clara Tauson to become the first Japanese player in the Open Era to reach the NBO final. This is her best result since returning to the tour as a mom last year.
For the first time since the introduction of the WTA-1000 tournament level in 2009, two players ranked outside the Top 40 will face off in the final.
Gauff and Kessler take home doubles title
Before the singles semi-finals took centre stage on Wednesday, the American duo of Coco Gauff and McCartney Kessler won the doubles crown thanks to a 6-4, 1-6, 13-11 win over Taylor Townsend and Shuai Zhang.
Gauff and Kessler won four straight match tiebreaks en route to the trophy. The victory is Gauff’s eleventh career WTA doubles title and her second at the NBO after first capturing the title with Jessica Pegula in 2022. Meanwhile, this is Kessler’s first WTA doubles win.
Montreal hosts UNMATCHED Conference for the first time
Before the tennis, IGA Stadium hosted Tennis Canada’s UNMATCHED Gender Equity in Sports Conference presented by National Bank on Wednesday afternoon.
Driven by the theme ‘Stronger Together’, the conference welcomed the likes of hockey trailblazer Jessica Campbell, WTA CEO Portia Archer, PWHL star Laura Stacey, and many more influential voices pushing for gender equity in sports.
Photos by Mathieu Bélanger, Sarah-Jäde Champagne & Pascal Ratthé
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