If you’re a tennis fan, you’ve probably heard the name Victoria Mboko in the last few weeks.

Mboko is taking the tennis world by storm. The 18-year-old is currently competing in the National Bank Open in Montreal and has claimed upset wins over top seed Coco Gauff and Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

She will face the 2022 Wimbledon winner, Elena Rybakina, in the semi-final, live on Sky Sports Tennis, and the Canadian home crowd will be cheering her on.

Who is Mboko?

Mboko is an 18-year-old American-born, Canadian-raised tennis player and is the youngest of four tennis-playing siblings.

She showed promise as a junior, making her WTA Tour main-draw debut at 15 years old at the 2022 Canadian Open in the doubles draw, partnering Kayla Cross.

Her first singles appearance came at the 2022 Championnats Banque Nationale de Granby, where she received a wildcard and lost to fellow Canadian Rebecca Marino.

What tournaments has Mboko won?

She won her first professional singles title at the ITF W25 tournament in Saskatoon in 2022, a title she successfully defended in 2023.

Mboko began the year ranked No 333. She started 2025 playing in a pair of ITF W35s in the Caribbean and won both of them.

But it didn’t stop there.

The teenager racked up 33 wins and just three losses, and is set to move into the top 50 when the rankings are updated next week.

Mboko received a Miami wild card, where she claimed her first tour-level victory over Camila Osorio, before pushing Spain’s Paula Badosa to a decider, which the teen lost.

She then qualified for her first Grand Slam main draw at the French Open, where she reached the third round, before stunning 25th-seeded Magdalena Frech in the first round at Wimbledon.

Mboko is the first Canadian to reach the WTA 1000 event’s semi-finals since Bianca Andreescu’s title run in 2019. She’s also the youngest woman to reach the semis since Belinda Bencic’s 2015 win in Toronto.

What do tennis experts and players think?

Former Wimbledon finalist Genie Bouchard said Mboko’s rise “has been nothing short of incredible”.

The recently retired tennis star said: “Anyone who knew her in Canadian tennis would not be surprised. She has so much power to her game. I remember practising with her when she was 14 or 15 years old and she was smacking forehands and bowling me off the court, so we all knew she would be really good.

“I’m so happy to see it happening at such a big event like this as well. She seems to be handling the moment really well, taking it all in her stride and using it as motivation.”

After her win over Gauff, Bouchard added: “I’m very impressed with how cool, calm and collected she was on the court. She looked much more mature than her 18 years of age. You see her on the court and she’s handling it like she’s done it a hundred times.”

Gauff was sent crashing out of the National Bank Open in Montreal in straight sets by Mboko, but praised the teenager’s efforts.

“She’s very athletic. She’s a great ball striker, and she seems pretty positive out there on the court, doesn’t get really too negative,” Gauff said.

“I don’t know her too well, but l have spoken to her a little bit since Rome.

“I think she has a great support system around her, and that’s important when you’re young and on tour. Hopefully, we have many more battles, and I look forward to playing her again in the future.”

Follow Mboko’s journey in the National Bank Open live on Sky Sports and watch the ATP and WTA Tours, as well as the US Open in New York, live on Sky Sports in 2025 or stream with NOW and the Sky Sports app, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.