Victoria Mboko: 18-Year-Old Canadian Tennis Phenom Lighting Up the WTA and Google Searches

Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko has turned her rapid-fire rise on the ITF circuit into a headline-making debut on one of tennis’s grandest stages: Roland Garros. The 18-year-old from Burlington, Ontario upset New Zealand’s Lulu Sun 6-4, 6-3 to record her first main-draw victory at a Grand Slam, capping an extraordinary five-month run that has already produced five ITF singles trophies and catapulted her to a career-high No. 120 in the WTA rankings. Record-Breaking Start to 2025 Mboko opened the season with a 22-match winning streak, sweeping consecutive titles in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Georgia, Manchester and Porto without dropping a set. The run marked the longest undefeated stretch by any Canadian woman on record since the ITF began keeping detailed stats in 1994. Her overall 2025 tally now stands at 41 wins against just four losses, a pace that has analysts predicting a Top 100 breakthrough before Wimbledon. Breakthrough at Roland Garros Qualifying for Paris seemed ambitious a year ago—yet Mboko navigated three rounds without surrendering a set, then handled Sun’s left-handed power in a poised first-round display on Court 7. Next she faces No. 14 seed Daria Kasimova, a baseline veteran whose heavy topspin could test Mboko’s backhand slice. Victory would make Mboko the youngest Canadian woman to reach the French Open third round since 2012. What Makes Her Game Special • Serve speed regularly tops 185 km/h, producing free points on clay. • A two-handed backhand that switches seamlessly from counter-punching to down-the-line winners. • Frequent surprise drop shots—she averages six per match—keep opponents off balance. Coach Simon Bartram credits offseason work on core rotation for the extra bite in her serve, while Mboko says hitting with compatriot Leylah Fernandez “showed me the pace I need to live at on tour.” Next Up in Paris Kasimova owns a 78 % break-point conversion rate this clay season, so Mboko’s first-serve percentage—76 % against Sun—will be critical. If she advances, a potential showdown with world No. 4 Coco Gauff looms, a rematch of their three-set duel in Rome earlier this month where Mboko took the opening set 7-5 before fading late. Why Mboko Matters for Canadian Tennis With Bianca Andreescu still returning from injuries and Leylah Fernandez entrenched inside the Top 30, Mboko’s surge gives Canada a third legitimate singles threat on the WTA Tour. Her fearless shot-making and multicultural background—born in Charlotte, North Carolina to Congolese parents before relocating to Ontario—have already made her a marketing dream for sponsors eyeing Gen Z audiences. Tennis Canada’s high-performance director Sylvain Bruneau calls her “the most electrifying prospect we’ve had in a decade.” Search traffic for “Victoria Mboko French Open,” “Victoria Mboko age,” and “Victoria Mboko ranking” has spiked this week, and with another marquee match on the horizon, the buzz surrounding this teenage phenom is poised to intensify.