Victoria Mboko’s impressive singles performance at the Australian Open came to an abrupt end in the fourth round in Melbourne on Sunday.
The Toronto teen was defeated by world number one Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-1, 7-6 (1) in the prestigious Grand Slam tournament as the 17th seed at Rod Laver Arena in an hour and 26 minutes of action.
Sabalenka took the first set in just 34 minutes, finishing with six aces, three double faults, 27 winners and 24 unforced errors.
Mboko found his groove in the second set and forced his top-ranked opponent into deep trouble in the second-set tie-break, finishing with three aces, three double faults, 19 winners and 20 unforced errors.
Mboko made things interesting in the second set, fighting back from 4-1 down to force the match into a decider, but Sabalenka found the extra gear and finished.
Sabalenka will face the winner of the quarterfinals between Eva Jovich of the United States and Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.
Meanwhile, in the third round of women’s doubles, Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani defeated Moldova’s Cristina Busa and Nicole Melic-Martinez 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Dabrowski and her partner will face the winner of Latvian third seed Jelena Ostapenko and Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei in the fourth round, as well as American Sofia Kenin and Germany’s Laura Sigmund.
