Victoria Mboko has given herself a shot at Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 1, in the fourth round of the Australian Open, after the 19-year-old prodigy held her nerve at the end of an incredibly tense tussle to close out a 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3 win over the 14th seed, Clara Tauson.
Mboko, seeded 17th, showed her mental toughness at the end of a quality match between two young players by playing an authoritative final set after squandering match points. The Canadian had served for the match at 5-3 in the second set before being broken to love. She then generated three match points at 5-4, but while Mboko tightened up, her Danish opponent struck the ball with total freedom to level the set, which she then won.
“I think it was just self-belief at the end,” Mboko said. “I had so many chances in the second set but I’ve got to give credit where it’s due, she was playing incredible tennis so I just had to lock in, in the important moments. This is my first time here so I’m really happy to go through to the fourth round.”
The victory secures her first appearance in the fourth round of a slam, her previous best being a run to the French Open third round last year from qualifying. The Canadian’s reward is a meeting with the two-time champion Sabalenka, who dragged herself past Austria’s Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7).
Although Sabalenka was frustrated with her level of play, her fighting spirit carried her through. She saved two set points in the second tie-break, with Potapova double-faulting on the champion’s first match point.
“Aryna five years ago would probably be focusing too much on the way she feels and completely lose these games,” Sabalenka said. “Nowadays with the experience, I learned a lot that it doesn’t really matter how you feel, it’s all about your mentality, your mental strength to be there, to just try your best, to put the ball ugly, with the terrible technique, with completely [the] body being disconnected, but just try to put it back and fight.
“Because you never know. You have to stay there and you have to fight and you have to show your opponent that no matter how I feel, no matter what’s going on, I’ll still be there, I’ll still be fighting, and I’ll still be willing to find something that’s going to help me to be willing to fight in the match.”
Sabalenka entered her press conference wearing a Gucci bomber jacket and then put on Gucci sunglasses during it. The world No 1 announced on Thursday she had joined the fashion house as a brand ambassador, another sign of the Belarusian’s growing profile and marketability.
Elsewhere, Daniil Medvedev continued to gain confidence as the Russian three-time finalist impressively recovered from two sets down to return to the fourth round with a 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, 6-3 win over Fabian Marozsan of Hungary. Great Britain’s Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash, the ATP doubles No 1s, suffered a shock 7-6 (5), 6-4 loss to the Australians James McCabe and Li Tu in the men’s doubles.
