Victoria Mboko: Will teenager's unbeaten run end in glory?

It's always enthralling to see a young talent realised, even if it has been long forecasted.

But a moment of realisation, where everything clicks and stuttering potential morphs into roaring success, is even more giving: enter Canada's Victoria Mboko.

Twenty-two games unbeaten for an 18-year-old who at the beginning of the season was ranked 333 in the world, but is one match away from winning her home tournament – if she can beat top-tier ever-present and multiple Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka in Thursday's final.

For Japan's Osaka, another match for her to underpin her gravitas in tennis' seemingly endless-yet-entertaining grind to prove current status.

For Mboko, validation of hard work from the age of three, and for parents who landed in a very different United States in 1999 - one which provided solace from political unrest the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But it's in Toronto where Mboko - who was born in Charlotte, US - was inspired to play tennis.

"I remember going there as a kid and watching all the great players playing," Mboko told the Women's Tennis Association.

"We were watching a lot of Serena and Venus [Williams], and that's where I took a lot of inspiration, because Serena was literally the greatest of all time. I used to see how the pros are and I used to be in so much awe of them. And now I'm seeing them like right beside me."

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