From Aussie debut to third round: Victoria Mboko clinches Round of 32 spot with convincing win

Victoria Mboko continues her winning streak at the Australian Open and reaches the third round in Melbourne for the first time. The 19-year-old easily overcame Caty McNally and secured her spot in the Round of 32, where she will wait for a match against the winner between Clara Tauson and Polina Kudermetova.

For the Canadian, once again the favoritism was on her side, especially after a great start to the year in which she reached the final in Brisbane International. This time in Melbourne – just her debut in the tournament – she already won in straight sets, first against Emerson Jones (WC) and this time against American Caty McNally.

The teenager knew how to manage the advantage from the beginning, and never had major problems against the American. Mboko also continues securing her growth in the ranking and is positioned as No. 13 – less than 500 points away from the top-10, which is currently closed by Ekaterina Alexandrova – eliminated in the first round in Melbourne, opening the possibility for several names to fight for that spot in case of a deep run, including Mboko herself.

One of Mboko’s characteristics in her first steps on the Tour has been finding consistency in her serve and her great ability to extend long rallies and compete in power with the best in the world. The Canadian showed this time that she feels comfortable when she has to take the lead in the match and take the initiative, against a rival who was always one step behind the Canadian.

The world No. 16 got a break around the 4th game and moved ahead 3-1, although McNally quickly responded and managed to break back in the next game. Things remained equal until 4-4, but Mboko was more decisive in the final part of the set, and with a timely break finished the first set in her favor 6-4.

The Canadian had won a notable 73% of points on her first serve – surpassing McNally’s 62% – and on second serve she obtained 64% effectiveness, far above McNally’s poor 36%, whose constant net approaches were of little use to close points.

In the second set, Mboko lost consistency on serve, but her good return game always kept her ahead. Two consecutive breaks at the start put McNally up 3-0, but she did not know how to manage the advantage. Mboko, who never gave up the set, recovered emotionally and won six games in a row before closing the victory 6-4, 6-3.

Although in the second set she experienced moments of doubt, the teenager came through, converting 3/6 break opportunities and with a total of 10 winners in the set.

In the third round, she will wait to face the winner between Polina Kudermetova and world No. 14 Clara Tauson – another player directly in the fight to reach the top-10 and who could be a direct battle in the search to approach the dominant group of the WTA Tour.