Victoria Mboko still can't believe what happened at the Canadian Open, where she won her first WTA 1000 title after receiving a wild card from the tournament organizers. The 18-year-old player started the season as world No. 337, but after a great campaign in ITF tournaments at the beginning of the year, she climbed the rankings in a meteoric rise.

The player born in 2006 quickly made a name for herself among the best. She overcame the qualifying rounds at the Rome Open and gave a good battle to Coco Gauff—the eventual tournament champion—and then reached her first WTA 125 final at the Parma Ladies Open, where she fell to the experienced Egyptian Mayar Sherif.

Mboko's ascent would continue in the following weeks after she qualified for the French Open and advanced to the third round, whe

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