Victoria Mboko will be hoping for a better outcome when she plays Aryna Sabalenka at Indian Wells.
Mboko beat Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 6-1, to reach the quarterfinals of Indian Wells in her first appearance at the tournament.
This has set up a quarterfinal match with Sabalenka, who beat Naomi Osaka in her own fourth round match.
Sabalenka beat Mboko at the Australian Open earlier this year, and now the Canadian is hoping to change her tactics for their upcoming match.
Victoria Mboko hopes to hold her ground against Aryna Sabalenka
After beating Anisimova, Mboko was in her post-match press conference where she was asked about the upcoming match with Sabalenka.
Mboko was asked if she was surprised by how much Sabalenka was able to dominate on court at the Australian Open, where she won the match 6-1, 7-6(1).
“Yeah, it kind of did,” answered Mboko. “I mean, she’s world number one. She’s obviously doing something right. Yeah, I think it was a big eye-opener playing her in the Australian Open, and I’d say coming into this match, of course, I played her, so I know what to expect.
“I do think about it a lot, and you always try to see how to improve yourself in those kinds of situations in practice, and hopefully the next round I could be more prepared for those kinds of balls.”
Aryna Sabalenka is now the — best women’s player of all time
Where are you ranking her?
When asked a follow-up question about her Australian Open match against Sabalenka, Mboko admitted that she was surprised by just how much she was dominated in some of the points, before suggesting that she hoped to stand her ground more at Indian Wells.
“Well, I mean I could just say playing her in general, like I said before, she generates a really good ball,” added Mboko. “I feel like she was able to push me off the court a lot more and able to really stay aggressive against me.
“So hopefully I can hold my ground a bit more against her and try to kind of even it out a bit more. Yeah, we’ll see. I mean, it was my first time playing on a Grand Slam center court too, so I feel like there was a lot going on in my head, but yeah, we’ll see. It’s a new day, new tournament. Yeah.”
Victoria Mboko suggests if she now feels more pressure as a top 10 player
Mboko reached the Qatar Open final last month, and therefore made her debut into the top 10 of the WTA rankings for the first time in her young career.
While the 19-year-old has admitted that it feels ‘weird’ to be a top 10 player now, Mboko has suggested that she is not feeling any more pressure with her new ranking.
“Yeah, I feel like I’m one person to never really put expectations on myself, because you could either have a really good week or a bad week,” said Mboko. “So I wouldn’t want to kind of put myself down or put myself on a pedestal and say I’m supposed to make this round.
“Yeah, I have just been taking it day by day, and yeah, it’s kind of weird that I’m top 10 now. So to be playing players in the top 10, I’m still really excited, yeah.”
What has been the best WTA match of 2026?
Let us know in the comments!
At the start of the 2025 season, Mboko was ranked outside the top 300 and had only ever played one main draw match on the WTA Tour.
Since then, Mboko has won the Canadian Open and Hong Kong Open titles, making huge strides up the rankings after beating the likes of Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Mirra Andreeva.
Due to the sudden rise of her ranking, there has also been a lot more expectations on the shoulders of Mboko, but she appears to be taking it all in her stride.
“Well, yeah, I mean, I will agree everything came super fast, but I just think, I mean, I just think if you put a lot of pressure on yourself and have a lot of expectations for yourself, you’re not really going to perform the way you want to,” explained Mboko.
“So I just try to come to terms that with every tournament I play, it’s not going to be maybe the way I want it to, but I just want to give 100% effort, and there is always a lesson to learn.
“I feel like that’s the only way I’m going to improve myself. As long as each week I’m able to take something away and try to learn and grow from it, it’s only going to be upwards from here. Yeah, it’s a marathon, not a race, you know.”
Mboko is set to rise up the rankings once again, as she is currently at world number nine in the live WTA rankings following defending champion Andreeva’s frustrated exit from Indian Wells.
Andreeva is also Mboko’s doubles partner at Indian Wells, and they are currently in the quarterfinals, which will take place a day before her singles quarterfinal on Thursday, March 12.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
