In the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open 2026 tennis tournament, Elena Rybakina lost 5-7, 6-4, 4-6 to young Canadian player Victoria Mboko after three sets.
Although rated higher before the match, Rybakina faced many difficulties against the 19-year-old opponent's energetic and persistent playing style. Previously, Mboko also surprised when she eliminated No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva to win the right to enter the quarterfinals.
In the three-set match, the Kazakhstani player scored 11 aces, almost double compared to her opponent. However, her service break efficiency was not really effective when she only succeeded 5/9 times, while Mboko took advantage of 6/12 opportunities.
In the first set, Rybakina once led 5-3 but let her opponent break back before losing 5-7. In the second set, she quickly got a break in the opening game and maintained the advantage to win 6-4, putting the match into the decisive set.
In the third set, Rybakina tried to save three match-points in the 10th game but could not stop Mboko from winning two consecutive points to complete the decisive break, thereby closing the match after more than two hours of play.
This defeat caused Rybakina to miss the opportunity to reach world No. 2 for the first time, in the context that Iga Swiatek was eliminated from the tournament. If she had qualified for the final, the Asian player could have improved her ranking on the WTA rankings.
In the semi-finals, Victoria Mboko will face Jelena Ostapenko, the defending runner-up of the tournament.
