Canadian teen Victoria Mboko completes dream run in Montreal with first WTA Tour title

MONTREAL (AP) — Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko completed a dream run to the National Bank Open title Thursday night, overcoming a slow start and swollen right wrist 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. The winner then ran to hug her family and coaches in the courtside box.

“When I had that winning moment and seeing so many people standing up and cheering for me, it was kind of a surreal experience,” said Mboko, who was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Congolese parents and grew up in Toronto. "I would have never thought something like this would have came so suddenly. It just proves that your dreams are closer than they (seem).”

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 fans. “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. And she did it with a stiff and swollen wrist that was “hard to move.”

After falling hard early Wednesday in the third set in the semifinals, Mboko woke up Thursday morning and rushed to the hospital for X-rays and an MRI, but ultimately received the green light to play.

“Today was such an eventful day actually,” said Mboko, who often shook her wrist in visible discomfort. “It feels unbelievable right now. I mean, words cannot really describe how today went.

“There’s some moments where it was aggravating me a lot, but I feel like it was the final. I just kept saying to myself, ‘You have one more to go.’”

With her wrist wrapped in a bandage, Mboko piled up a whopping 13 double-faults, and the speed of her first serves dipped.

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 tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Victoria Mboko, left, of Canada, is congratulated after her win by Naomi Osaka, right, of Japan, in final action at the National Bank Open women's tennis tournament in Montreal, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Victoria Mboko, of Canada, poses with the trophy after her win over Naomi Osaka, of Japan, in final action at the National Bank Open women's tennis tournament in Montreal, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Victoria Mboko, of Canada, hoists the trophy following her win over Naomi Osaka, of Japan, in final action at the National Bank Open women's tennis tournament in Montreal, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Victoria Mboko of Canada celebrates her win over Naomi Osaka of Japan during finals tennis action at the National Bank Open in Montreal on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Victoria Mboko of Canada kisses the trophy following her win over Naomi Osaka of Japan during finals tennis action at the National Bank Open in Montreal, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Victoria Mboko, of Canada, celebrates after her win over Naomi Osaka, of Japan, in finals action at the National Bank Open women's tennis tournament in Montreal, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Naomi Osaka, of Japan, reacts during finals action against Victoria Mboko, of Canada, at the National Bank Open women's tennis tournament in Montreal, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Victoria Mboko, of Canada, reacts during her match against Naomi Osaka, of Japan, during finals action at the National Bank Open women's tennis tournament in Montreal, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Victoria Mboko, of Canada, reacts during her match against Naomi Osaka, of Japan, during finals action at the National Bank Open women's tennis tournament in Montreal, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Victoria Mboko, of Canada, reacts during her match against Naomi Osaka, of Japan, during finals action at the National Bank Open women's tennis tournament in Montreal, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Victoria Mboko, of Canada, hits a return to Naomi Osaka, of Japan, during finals action at the National Bank Open women's tennis tournament in Montreal, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

After nearly seven years away from the big screen, a new Star Wars movie drew healthy but not record-breaking crowds to global theaters this weekend. According to studio estimates on Sunday, “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” made $82 million in ticket sales from 4,300 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. By the end of Monday’s Memorial Day holiday, it’s expected to have earned $102 million domestically and $165 million globally.

It exceeded opening weekend expectations for the movie, a continuation of Disney+ spinoff series “The Mandalorian,” but it’s also on the low end of Disney-era Star Wars releases, closer to “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which made $103 million over the four-day Memorial Day frame in 2018. While “Solo” was considered a disaster, the metrics around “The Mandalorian and Grogu” are a little different.

The production budget for “Solo” was in the $300 million range, while “The Mandalorian and Grogu” was made for significantly less — a reported $165 million, not accounting for marketing and promotion costs. It makes the journey to profitability more likely, especially when factoring in positive audience scores. Although critics were mixed to negative on the movie (it currently carries a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes), ticket buyers overall gave it an A- CinemaScore. Boys under the age of 13 are especially high on the movie: They gave it an A CinemaScore and a perfect five on PostTrak. Parents also gave it a five out of five.

The Jon Favreau-directed movie stars Pedro Pascal as the titular bounty hunter and puts him and his tiny green companion on a mission to save Jabba’s son Rotta the Hutt, who is voiced by Jeremy Allen White.

“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” could also be graded on a bit of a curve because of the streaming component, both that it started as a series, and that it will eventually end up as a value add on Disney+, which was only about a month old when the last Star Wars movie, “The Rise of Skywalker,” debuted in December 2019.

Star Wars as a brand is in a time of transition under its new leadership team of Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan; Earlier this year it was announced that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who produced “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” was stepping down after 13 years. The question for the industry is whether audience interest in Star Wars on the big screen might have cooled slightly, and if next year’s “Star Wars: Starfighter,” starring Ryan Gosling, will provide a definitive answer. Until then, the hope is that strong audience and exit scores will propel word-of-mouth generated enthusiasm in the coming weeks.

Word-of-mouth certainly helped Curry Barker’s relationship horror movie “Obsession” defy the standard box office trajectory and do better business in its second weekend. The Focus Features had an astonishing 30% uptick in ticket sales, earning $22.4 million from 2,655 theaters. The studio, which acquired the microbudget movie for some $15 million, is projecting that it will have made $28.2 million by the end of Monday, bringing its running total to $58.5 million. It snagged the second-place spot, while “Michael” landed in third place with $20 million for the three-day weekend. The Michael Jackson biopic has now earned $782.4 million.

“Obsession” also did better than the new horror movie “Passenger,” a Paramount Pictures release with Melissa Leo, which grossed an estimated $8.7 million from 2,534 locations. It’s expected to earn $10.5 million over its first four days. The movie received poor reviews from both critics (44% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (B- Cinema Score).

The mix of movies this year didn’t hold a candle to last year’s record Memorial Day weekend, which was led by Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.” The overall four-day frame this year will net out around $211 million, down about 36% from last year’s $330 million. It’s also far from the disastrous 2024 Memorial Day weekend box office, a 30-year low, when “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” opened.

Jon Favreau arrives at the premiere of "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" on Thursday, May 14, 2026, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

The character Grogu arrives at the premiere of "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" on Thursday, May 14, 2026, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)