Aryna Sabalenka‘s match with 19-year-old Victoria Mboko (17th WTA) was supposed to be a formality, especially when the Belarusian confidently won the first set and was already leading 4:1 in the second. The Canadian seemed to be on her last legs. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Watch Victoria Mboko’s brilliant comeback:
Mboko, the winner of the tournament in Montreal last year and one of the most talented tennis players of the young generation, showed her lion’s claw. She made up for the loss sensationally, led to a tense ending and forced the two-time Australian Open champion to make a great effort. After a tie-break, Sabalenka finally entered the quarterfinals.
Continuation of the material below the video
54 minutes and it’s over. Iva Jović will play with Aryna Sabalenka
If Sabalenka had problems with one teenager, she must sound the alarm before the quarterfinals. Her next rival, 18-year-old Iva Jović (27th WTA), set up a shooting range at night. The American literally demolished Yulia Putintseva, winning 6-0, 6-1 in just 54 minutes.
Putintseva was already losing 0:6, 0:4 and when she finally won the game, she received an ovation from the audience for avoiding the “bicycle”. Jović played inspired and sent a clear signal that she does not intend to be a background for Sabalenka in the semi-final match.
Brilliant action with Iva Jović:
The above-mentioned ovation deserves a separate paragraph. These are completely different pictures than those from the previous match of the Kazakh representative born in Moscow. Then she once again showed the world the side of her personality that had long earned her the reputation of being a scandalous woman. More information in this text.
The curse of Calos Alcaraz, Jan Zieliński in the quarterfinals!
Carlos Alcaraz also showed off his skills. In the hit of the night, the Spaniard defeated Tommy Paul 7:6 (6), 6:4, 7:5. The match was extremely close. For “Carlitos” this is the third consecutive advancement to the quarterfinals in Melbourne, a stage he has never passed here before. The Australian Open is the only Slam that Alcaraz does not have in his collection. Now he is one step closer to completing the tennis crown, but the curse of the 1/4 finals still hangs in the air.
For dessert, great news for Polish fans. Jan Zieliński quickly recovered from his defeat in the mixed doubles. In doubles, playing in pairs with Luke Johnson, he played a concert. The Polish-British duo gave no chance to the Pavlasek/Smith pair (6:3, 6:3), dominating from the first to the last ball. Zieliński is probably in the best eight of the tournament.
