World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka
started fast and steadied late in a 6-1, 7-6(1) win over No. 17 seed Victoria Mboko on Sunday in Melbourne, booking her place in the Australian Open quarterfinals for the fourth straight year.
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Aware of the challenge posed by the 2025 WTA Newcomer of the Year — playing a World No. 1 and stepping onto Rod Laver Arena for the first time — Sabalenka came out in punishing form. She raced through the opening set and surged ahead 4-1 in the second, taking full control in just over 45 minutes.
But as in her previous two matches, the top seed’s level dipped with a commanding lead. Mboko capitalized, breaking Sabalenka twice in the second set — including at 5-4, after Sabalenka failed to convert three match points — and later pulling the set back to deuce at 6-5, two points from forcing a decider.
That was as far as the comeback went. Sabalenka reset in the tiebreak, the scenario she has made her own over the past 18 months, improving to 20-0 in Grand Slam tiebreak sets as she closed out the win in 1 hour and 26 minutes.
Sabalenka said beforehand that she hadn’t yet had the chance to practice with Mboko or watch her play up close — perhaps symbolic of the 19-year-old’s rapid rise on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz over the past 12 months — but Mboko’s competitive spirit and tenacity still left her impressed.
“What an incredible player for such a young age,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. “It’s incredible to see these kids coming up on tour. I can’t believe I say that, I feel like I’m a kid still but whatever! Incredible player. She pushed me really hard today.
“I’m super happy with the win, once again in straight sets. She played incredible tennis. She pushed me so much. Happy to be through.”
Sabalenka later said that the midday Melbourne sun made serving difficult as the match progressed, and pointed toward that as one of the factors that helped Mboko climb back into the second set. But in the end, four winners in the first six points of the tiebreak helped push her through.
“She’s incredible, that’s for sure, but the tricky thing about playing the first match — don’t get me wrong I like to play the first match — but the tricky part, at some point the sun goes right into your serve [hit] point. It’s kind of like tricky. It’s become not easy. You can break the serve,” she said.
“That’s what actually happened. Two breaks that she got, it was on the side when I was facing the sun. Yeah, I didn’t deal that good with the serve. She done incredible job serving on that side. That’s the tricky part.
“I knew she’s going to be fighting. I knew she’s going to be trying. She kind of like has nothing to lose. She showed incredible tennis in those moments when she broke my serve.
“But yeah, I was just focusing staying in the moment, playing point by point, trying to get this win.”