mboko (2)

Victoria Mboko is off to a winning start in her first traditional event of 2026.

The Canadian, seeded eighth, rallied to beat Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 on Monday in the first round of the Adelaide Intnerational.

“It’s never easy to play her,” Mboko said after the match against the world No. 39, per the WTA Tour. “She’s such a talented player. It was such a difficult match for me, so to get through today was … I feel relieved a little bit.

“She has a lot of variety in her game, she’s super aggressive and can hit a very heavy ball. Honestly, I just wanted to stand my ground as much as I possibly could. She hit some amazing shots, too, so I have to give her credit for that. But at the end of the day, I just wanted to hold it there as much as I could and fight really hard every point.”

Mboko, the world No. 17, split a pair of singles matches at the United Cup team event last week. The 19-year-old is coming off a breakthrough year in which she won her first career tour-level events, including her dramatic triumph at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers in Montreal.

Mboko will next face world No. 33 Anna Kalinskaya of Russia on Tuesday at the Australian Open tune-up event.

Canada’s Leylah Fernandez faces No. 8 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia in the opening round on Tuesday.

On the men’s side, Canada’s Gabriel Diallo faces qualifier Andrea Vavassori of Italy on Tuesday in the first round.

Australian Open qualifying

Marina Stakusic was the only one of four Canadians to win on Monday in the first round of Australian Open qualifying.

The native of Mississauga, Ont., downed Nuria Parrizas Diaz of Spain 6-3, 6-2.

Canada’s Cadence Brace, Kayla Cross and Alexis Galarneau all lost their openers.

Canada’s Liam Draxl and Carson Branstine play first-round qualifying matches Tuesday.

Players need to win three qualifying matches to be guaranteed entry into the main draw of the season’s first Grand Slam, which opens this weekend.