Photo Credit: Vicky Mboko/Instagram
Nineteen-year-old Victoria Mboko is officially a Top 10 player in the PIF WTA Rankings — and if you’ve been paying even the slightest attention to women’s tennis over the past year, you’ll know this has been coming.
Earlier last week, Mboko broke into the elite bracket for the first time in her career, capping off a remarkable 12 months on the WTA Tour.
To put it in context, this time last year Mboko was ranked No. 333 in the world, grinding it out — and winning — on the ITF Circuit. She picked up four straight ITF titles to start her 2025 season, laying the foundation for what would become a 323-spot climb up the rankings. It took her just 357 days to go from breaking into the Top 200 to securing a place in the Top 10, the fastest such surge since Jennifer Capriati in 1990.
Her breakthrough moment arrived on home soil in Montreal at the WTA 1000 National Bank Open presented by Rogers. Entering as a wildcard, Mboko delivered a title run that felt almost surreal: defeating Coco Gauff in the fourth round, Elena Rybakina in the semi-final and Naomi Osaka in the final. In doing so, she became only the second wildcard to win the tournament. By the end of the year, she had added another trophy at the WTA 250 Hong Kong Open and finished the season inside the Top 20, having started it ranked outside the Top 300.
Photo Credit: Victoria Mboko/Instagram
And she has carried that form straight into 2026. Mboko reached her first WTA 500 final at the Adelaide International, made the fourth round of the Australian Open, her best Grand Slam result yet, and followed it up with a runner-up finish at the WTA 1000 Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha, where she fell to Karolina Muchova. That Doha run ultimately pushed her into the Top 10, making her the first player this season to make her WTA Top 10 debut.
She is now the fourth Canadian woman to reach this milestone, joining Carling Bassett–Seguso, Eugenie Bouchard and Bianca Andreescu. At 19 years, she is also the youngest player to crack the Top 10 since Mirra Andreeva did so last year. In fact, with Andreeva currently ranked No. 7, this marks the first time in more than 15 years that two teenagers sit inside the Top 10 — a throwback to 2009, when Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka were part of the elite group.
Mboko’s rise is not built on rankings alone. To be in the Top 10, you have to beat the Top 10 — and she has done exactly that. She owns four wins over Top 10 opponents, including victories over Coco Gauff, Madison Keys, Mirra Andreeva and Elena Rybakina.
Up next is her maiden appearance at Indian Wells, one of the biggest stops on the calendar. Former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard has already tipped her for a deep run, and it’s easy to see why.
