This year, teenagers have been stealing the spotlight on the tennis court. Mirra Andreeva has already had her moment, grabbing back-to-back WTA 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells. But another teen is making quiet but steady noise – Victoria Mboko. She’s just 18, new to the WTA scene, but already turning heads with her game. Big serve, sharp backhand, and court coverage that would impress even the best, the Canadian prodigy is lighting up Roland-Garros in her Grand Slam debut; she’s through to the third round of the French Open. Not bad for someone who just started her first full season on tour. Let’s find out more about this rising tennis star!

Victoria Mboko was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, but she grew up in Toronto, Canada. Her parents, Cyprien Mboko and Godee Kitadi, moved from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1999 due to political unrest. But even far from home, they made sure their kids stayed connected to their roots. That family bond included tennis. Mboko is the youngest of four siblings and all of them played tennis. Her sister Gracia and her older brother Kevin played college tennis. Her other brother, David, had to stop due to eye problems. Seeing tennis all around her, she picked up a racket at the tender age of three. That passion only grew.

The Canadian regularly visited her hometown tournament, the Rogers Cup in Toronto, and watched her idols – Serena Williams and Bianca Andreescu. It’s clear their influence stuck. Like them, Mboko plays aggressive baseline tennis and has a strong serve. She’s coached by Nathalie Tauziat, a former World No. 3 known for her serve-and-volley game.

So far, their partnership seems to be paying off. She kicked off the year with 22 straight wins, picking up four ITF titles without losing a single set. Then came a fifth win in Porto, Portugal. That run earned her a wildcard to the Miami Open. And the 18-year-old made the most of it. Mboko got her first WTA tour-level win there, beating Camila Osorio. She almost pulled off another upset in the next round, taking Paula Badosa to a final-set tiebreak before falling 7–5, 1–6, 7–6 (3). From there, it’s only gotten better. Mboko qualified for the Italian Open and won her first-round match against wildcard Arianna Zucchini. She then faced Coco Gauff, the No. 4 seed. Mboko won the first set before Gauff rallied to win 5–7, 6–2, 6–3. A loss, yes, but a statement performance all the same.

Now at the French Open, Mboko is finally getting her moment. She beat New Zealand’s Lulu Sun 6-1, 7-6 (4) in the first round. Then she took down Germany’s Eva Lys in straight sets. In her very first Grand Slam, she’s already in round three.

But the next round promises a Herculean task.

Victoria Mboko faces Qinwen Zheng in a thrilling third round

Quinwen Zheng is in top form and knows how to win on clay. She won her biggest career title, the Olympic gold, on this very surface in Paris last year. She’s also riding an eight-match winning streak on the Roland-Garros clay. The Chinese tennis star’s most recent win came against Emiliana Arango, a 6-2, 6-3 win that was tighter than the score suggests. Now she’ll go up against another Grand Slam debutante-Victoria Mboko.

Clay hasn’t always been Mboko’s favorite. She grew up playing indoors on hard courts and called that her “favorite surface for my whole life.” But things change. “I feel like I’ve been doing pretty OK on the clay so far, even though it was my least favorite surface and I thought it was my worst surface, too,” Mboko said after her first-round win. “But you never know.”

She’s figuring it out just fine. With 42 wins this year, Victoria Mboko knows how to close. Now, she’s proving she can do it on the biggest stages, too. Can the teenage star from Toronto keep her dream run going in Paris?