“I think something I can learn from myself today”: Victoria Mboko shares key takeaway from clash with Sabalenka

Victoria Mboko lamented the tough defeat against Aryna Sabalenka in the 4th round of the Australian Open. The Canadian took almost an hour to get into the rhythm of the match, and despite a late reaction, it was not enough to recover a score that was already too adverse against the world No. 1.

And indeed, Sabalenka showed her hierarchy from the start of the match, and after just a few minutes of play she secured the first break. From there, the Belarusian became strong to take control of the match and won seven games in a row, before an erratic Mboko began to react and give some competition to the 4-time Grand Slam champion.

By the second set, Sabalenka had the win in her hands: in the fifth game she got her second break of the set and moved ahead 4-1 with her serve in hand. Mboko showed her best face at this moment, winning five of the next six games and saving up to three match points on the return, before sending everything to a tie-break.

It was there that Sabalenka, this time, did not hesitate, taking control of the tie-break from the start and closing it 7-1, winning the match 6-1, 7-6(1). This was also her 20th consecutive tie-break win in major tournaments, breaking the record she had shared with Novak Djokovic (between 2005 and 2007), who had 19.

Mboko came into the tournament in impeccable form, with 13 wins in her previous 15 matches. In several of those, she had to overcome an early deficit and regain her level as the match progressed, but against Sabalenka she could not achieve a comeback.

“I've been in so many situations where sometimes I'll have like a slower start,” commented Mboko in the press conference. “She played really great tennis in the first set, serving well, great ball striking. I think I started to get used to her, I'd say pattern of play in a way or like her pace of the ball and just tried to run with it.”

“I think trying to find my rhythm as the match went on also was important for me. And yeah, I was pretty close in the second set. She was serving really well. It was difficult to return her balls. And yeah, I mean, she played, she upped her level at the end of the day.”

Despite the defeat and elimination from the Australian Open, Mboko wanted to highlight the positive side of gaining experience at the highest level. This tournament marked the first time she reached the second week of a Grand Slam, doing so against the world No. 1 in the Rod Laver Arena – the main stadium at Melbourne Park.

“I think even players ranked below her, there's many great players who can, I think, deliver high-quality tennis just as well,” commented the teenager regarding her rival’s performance. “But I think something I can learn from myself today was just, I feel like a lot of matches I'm able to get away with not hitting a really thorough ball or, say, if it's too short, she automatically took advantage of it and wasted no time to completely put me on defense.”

“So I felt like usually I'm able to kind of get away with that. But with her, it was from the start, the moment my shot quality wasn't good enough, she was dictating right away. So that's something I could work on and learn for the next time.”

Mboko thus finished her first Australian Open appearance with a good run to the 4th round, which also represents a boost in the ranking to world No. 13, her best historic ranking so far.

With not too many points to defend in the coming months, the Canadian could be increasingly close to her first appearance in the top 10. Her next challenges will be in the Middle East: Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Dubai – all tournaments in which she will debut and that could help her continue adding points to reach the elite group of the WTA Tour.