Canada witnessed a special sports story Thursday: 18-year-old Toronto native Victoria Mboko defeated Naomi Osaka to win the Canadian Open.
It’s the first WTA 1000 tournament win for Mboko, who was born in the U.S. but moved to Canada when she was 2 months old. The win comes with a $752,275 prize, which nearly triples her career earnings. Here are Mboko’s current career earnings:
- Before 2025 Canadian Open: $458,001
- After 2025 Canadian Open: $1,210,276 (164% increase)
The win will likely lead to Mboko receiving a seed in the US Open in less than three weeks, the first time she will be seeded in a Grand Slam. Mboko entered Montreal at world No. 85, but the 1,000 ranking points she will receive for the win will likely put her into the top 25, right behind Osaka. Earlier this year, Mboko advanced through the qualifiers at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon, even making it to the third round in France.
Osaka, 27, took home $391,600 for her runner-up finish, lifting her career earnings above $23 million. It’s the most she’s won at a single tournament since April 2022, when she finished second at the Miami Open. Despite the loss, she is also expected to be seeded at the US Open following her performance at the Canadian Open. The four-time Grand Slam champion took a 15-month break in 2022 following the birth of her daughter.
The Cincinnati Open, which started its round of 128 on Thursday, is the final WTA 1000 tournament before the US Open kicks off Aug. 24. That’s the same day the documentary Naomi Osaka: The Second Set premieres on Tubi.
Big Win for Shelton
On the men’s side, Ben Shelton dug himself out of a hole to beat Karen Khachanov on Thursday night for his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy, marking the biggest win of his career. The men’s prize is a bit higher than the women’s. Shelton gets $1,124,380 for his win, pushing his career earnings past the $9 million mark. The victory propelled him to No. 6 in the global rankings, passing Novak Djokovic.
Shelton, 22, has found success at Grand Slams, reaching the semifinals at the US Open in 2023 and Australian Open in January, but he has struggled to breach the duopoly of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. (Those players took the week off before Cincinnati.) His win Thursday makes him the youngest American man to win a Masters title since Andy Roddick in 2004, who during his career faced a similar dilemma of dominance in majors by Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer.
