Victoria Mboko avenged her Adelaide final loss to Mirra Andreeva as their second clash certainly lived up to expectations.
The Canadian No. 1 won the battle between the WTA’s teen titans 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) in the Qatar TotalEnergies Open third round on Wednesday. Mboko’s victory against the world No. 7 was the biggest of the year so far.
The world No. 13 had to work for many of her points throughout the two-hour match, but was able to put away a majority of longer rallies, thanks in part to her 37 winners. The 19-year-old from Burlington piled the pressure on Andreeva’s serve, holding 16 break points and converting on six, including one to stay alive in the match at 5-4 in the decisive set.
Mboko got off to the more fruitful start, winning eight-consecutive points on serve while scoring an early break in the second game to hold a 3-0 advantage in the opening set, as she did in the Adelaide final last month.
Again, however, Andreeva mounted a comeback to level at 3-3 but, this time, Mboko was able to halt the world No. 7’s surge by saving two break points in the seventh game to hold.
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The Canadian put the pressure back on Andreeva at 3-4, 15-40, converting on the crucial break to gain the opportunity to serve out the set and Mboko did exactly that, wrapping up the opener in just 20 minutes despite letting her early lead slip.
The start of the second was a real test on serve for both players. Each of the first five games featured at least one break point as Andreeva and Mboko both suffered back-to-back losses of serve. After the break frenzy, the Canuck held to love to even the set at 3-3.
However, on this occasion, Andreeva broke at 3-4 and she had the chance to take the set on her delivery. The 18-year-old served well to level the match.
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Mboko handed Andreeva the same opportunity in the decider, but with the match on the line. At 4-4, 30-40, the Burlingtonian committed one of her seven double faults, allowing Andreeva to serve for a spot in the quarter-finals.
The world No. 7 held match point at 5-4, 40-30, but ran into double fault trouble herself as Mboko came out with the vital break back to stay alive in the Qatari capital.
After comfortable holds, the match headed to a decisive tiebreaker where the first four points were won on return, keeping things even at 2-2. Some powerful hitting by Mboko secured what ended up being the pivotal mini-break, eventually holding three match points at 6-3. A resilient Andreeva saved two to crawl back, but the Canadian No. 1 ended her comeback bid at 6-5, going on the attack before capping off the match with a backhand winner.
Mboko sets up another popcorn match in the quarter-final as she awaits either Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina or former world No. 4 Qinwen Zheng.
Feature Photo: Martin Sidorjak
