Aryna Sabalenka fought off a teenage challenge from Victoria Mboko to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals, where she will face another young talent in Iva Jovic. The world No 1 won 6-1 7-6 (1) after Mboko saved three match points at 5-4 in the second set, only for Sabalenka to dominate the tie-break.
Sabalenka praised the Canadian, who is close to breaking into the top 10, saying: “She’s an amazing player. It was quite a fight. I’m super happy that I was able to close this match in straight sets.”
Next up is American Iva Jovic, who turned 18 last month. The teenager beat Yulia Putintseva 6-0 6-1 in 53 minutes, having already defeated Jasmine Paolini. Jovic has 11 wins this season, the most of any woman, and is the youngest player to reach the Melbourne quarter-finals without dropping a set since Venus Williams in 1998.
Jovic, who has been tipped as a future world No 1 by her idol Novak Djokovic, said: “I’m just really excited. I hope to be able to play her this year because you definitely want to play the best and see how it goes.”
Sabalenka is bidding for her third Australian Open title in four years and has reached at least the quarter-finals of every major since the 2022 French Open. Meanwhile, third seed Coco Gauff defeated Karolina Muchova 6-1 3-6 6-3 and will face Elina Svitolina in the last eight.
