Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko reached the fourth round of the Australian Open for the first time at a Grand Slam tournament, establishing a new personal best at the major championships. The 19-year-old’s strong run set up a blockbuster matchup against World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round that tested the rising star’s on-court skills.
After her defeat, Mboko shared the experience of facing one of the best players in women’s tennis on the biggest stage of them all.
Victoria Mboko’s ‘Learning Curve’ After Losing to Aryna Sabalenka in the Australian Open
Mboko’s fourth-round match with Sabalenka ended with a straight-sets defeat, as the Belarusian prevailed 6-1, 7-6 (1) in an 86-minute match. Even though the scoreline shows Sabalenka’s prowess, the second set revealed considerably more drama and competitiveness than the opening set.
The match represented a historic occasion for Mboko, as she stepped foot on Rod Laver Arena for the first time in her career to face the world’s top-ranked player in a Grand Slam tournament.
Speaking after the match in her post-match press conference, Mboko reflected on this grand experience, saying, “It was a pretty nice experience having it be my first time on the center court playing against a World No. 1 and I think at the end of the day it really came down to experience and she played really great tennis and I’ve of course had my chances but I’m glad to have played her today and just seen how she can play and what to expect.”
Mboko looked at the positive side of things rather than taking the exit as a setback, showing a much more mature perspective than her age. “So just a learning curve from now on,” she concluded, showing she has learned a lot of the things standing across the Belarusian.
Before entering the tournament, Mboko’s best result at a major was at Roland Garros last year, where she reached the third round but lost against former World No. 4 Qinwen Zheng in straight sets. Now, this fourth-round exit marks her career-best result, establishing her as a major rising force in women’s tennis.
Sabalenka’s Technicalities Dominated Mboko’s Resilience
The WTA World No. 1 showed why she sits at the top of the world by taking the first set 6-1 in just 31 minutes with power and precision. The Belarusian produced 15 winners and hit three aces while committing only one double fault and four unforced errors, showcasing her exceptional serving skills.
Mboko, on the other hand, committed eight unforced errors while managing to hit just six winners in response as she struggled to adjust to the pace and aggression of Sabalenka’s gameplay.
In the second set, Sabalenka continued that momentum, racing off to a 4-1 lead, breaking her opponent twice. However, Mboko brought back her impressive form from the 2025 season, which led her to new heights, launching an impressive comeback by breaking Sabalenka twice to level the score at 5-5 and force the match into a tiebreak.
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While serving at 5-4, Sabalenka held match points on three different occasions, but the Canadian saved the match every time and gained the upper hand for the first time in the match. In the tiebreak, Sabalenka regained control completely, dominating the decider 7-1Â to secure her place in the final eight.
This victory marked Sabalenka’s 24th win in her past 25 matches at the Australian Open, reaching 13 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals. Most notably, the Belarusian has now won 20 consecutive Grand Slam tiebreaks, surpassing Novak Djokovic’s nearly two-decade-old record of 19 straight tiebreak wins between 2005 and 2007.
Right after the singles exit, Mboko teamed up with American teenager Iva Jović to take on Elise Mertens and Zhang Shuai in women’s doubles but lost in three sets, ending her 2026 Australian Open campaign.
In the quarterfinals, Sabalenka now faces Jović, who reached the first Major quarterfinals of her career by defeating Yulia Putintseva 6-0, 6-1 in just 53 minutes, which marked the fastest match of the tournament. She also became the youngest American to reach the Australian Open women’s singles quarterfinals without dropping a set since Venus Williams in 1998.
