{"id":96668,"date":"2026-01-24T04:00:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T09:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=96668"},"modified":"2026-01-24T01:34:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T06:34:46","slug":"australian-open-day-8-womens-predictions-sabalenka-mboko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/01\/24\/australian-open-day-8-womens-predictions-sabalenka-mboko\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Open Day 8 Women’s Predictions Including Aryna Sabalenka vs Victoria Mboko"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have reached the second week of the first slam of the season, as 16 women remain in the 2026 Australian Open draw. With a few upsets across the grounds of Melbourne, day eight has situated us with some terrific matchups between top players. Among them are Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> vs Victoria Mboko<\/a> and Coco Gauff<\/a> vs Karolina Muchova.<\/p>\n

As always, we at LWOT offer our previews and predictions on all matches. Ateet Shrivastava, Jordan Reynolds, and Shane Black provide their insights. But who will advance?<\/p>\n

Australian Open Day 8 Women’s Predictions<\/h2>\n

Iva Jovic vs Yulia Putintseva<\/h4>\n

Ateet<\/strong>
\nYulia Putintseva had a lot of drive in the third round to beat Zeynep Sonmez, who had the majority of the crowd’s support in the match. It has been a great run for Putintseva, but I like Iva Jovic\u2019s chances in this one. Jovic has shown great improvement this season and has the extra firepower to deal with Putintseva.
\nPrediction: Jovic in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Jordan<\/strong>
\nJovic continued her excellent start to 2025 and made global headlines by beating Jasmine Paolini. The fiery Putintseva will offer a different test with her variety and willingness to soak up pressure. Jovic possesses more talent, but I feel the heightened pressure on the teenager and Putintseva\u2019s style might give the Kazakhstani the edge.
\nPrediction: Putintseva in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Shane<\/strong>
\nThe young American phenom is into the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career; will her run end here? Putintseva fended off the crowd in Round 3 and is seemingly playing with house money. Will the nerves affect either of these players? With so much unknown, I’ll side with the more talented Jovic.
\nPrediction: Jovic in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Coco Gauff vs Karolina Muchova<\/h4>\n

Ateet<\/strong>
\nKarolina Muchova looks in sublime form so far, but has never won a set against Coco Gauff in four meetings. Muchova has a beautiful game but lacks the killer weapon to pierce Gauff\u2019s elite defense consistently. At best, she takes a set.
\nPrediction: Gauff in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Jordan<\/strong>
\nGauff has good memories against Muchova. She defeated her to win titles in Cincinnati and Beijing, and to reach the 2023 US Open final. The world No. 3\u2019s excellent return and passing shots cut off two of Muchova\u2019s strengths, and she can consistently target the Czech\u2019s vulnerable backhand with her own world-class backhand in cross-court rallies. Gauff should have the edge.
\nPrediction: Gauff in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Shane<\/strong>
\nGauff has owned this head-to-head and should enter this match with a terrific amount of confidence. Muchova is the definition of ‘hot and cold’, and right now, she very much looks in form. Do not be surprised if this is the best match of the day. In a true coin flip, I’ll side with the more consistent American.
\nPrediction: Gauff in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/p>\n

Mirra Andreeva vs Elina Svitolina<\/h4>\n

Ateet<\/strong>
\nNo. 8 seed Mirra Andreeva is in the fourth round for the third consecutive year at the Australian Open and is eyeing a quarterfinals debut. Elina Svitolina will be her toughest challenge so far, and only her best tennis could get her over the line.
\nPrediction: Andreeva in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Jordan<\/strong>
\nBoth women were very impressive in the opening three rounds. Andreeva possesses slightly more natural talent overall, but Svitolina\u2019s forehand is superior, something she will try to take advantage of. I narrowly favor Andreeva, but this battle of the in-form players could easily go either way.
\nPrediction: Andreeva in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Shane<\/strong>
\nAndreeva will be a Grand Slam champion. She had 18 slam wins before her 18th birthday and has reached three quarterfinals and a semi over the previous two seasons. Svitolina has been around the block a few times and possesses one of the most lethal forehands on tour. Expect a fun, high-powered baseline battle. I’ll take the phenom in two tight sets.
\nPrediction: Andreeva in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Aryna Sabalenka vs Victoria Mboko<\/h4>\n

Ateet<\/strong>
\nAryna Sabalenka is on a eight match win streak this season, but played her worst match in the third round against Anastasia Potapova. Sabalenka made a lot of wild errors and will need to tidy them up against Victoria Mboko, who showed great mental fortitude to win against Clara Tauson. I expect the top seed to be extra careful and play a better match.
\nPrediction: Sabalenka in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Jordan<\/strong>
\nI think Mboko has a realistic chance of toppling the two-time Australian Open champion. The young Canadian star possesses the balance of attacking skills and athleticism that are needed to beat Sabalenka. Last year\u2019s runner-up might not be used to playing someone of Mboko\u2019s quality in the round of 16. It would be Sabalenka\u2019s earliest Grand Slam exit in a few years, but I am backing it to happen.
\nPrediction: Mboko in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Shane<\/strong>
\nSabalenka was challenged in her third-round match against Potapova. Typically, when this happens, she bounces back in a big way. Mboko has the talent to hang tough, but Sabalenk’s experience in the pressure moments should pay massive dividends.
\nPrediction: Sabalenka in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey – Imagn Images<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have reached the second week of the first slam of the season, as 16 women remain in the 2026 Australian Open draw. With a few upsets across the grounds of Melbourne, day eight has situated us with some terrific matchups between top players. Among them are Aryna Sabalenka vs Victoria Mboko and Coco Gauff […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4067,"featured_media":78702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[1766,15523,205,2363,2747,15732,394,15585,42396,42397,3716,15527,18273,18274,2373,2369,18059,18055,462,15641],"class_list":["post-96668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-aryna-sabalenka","tag-aryna-sabalenka-predictions","tag-australian-open","tag-australian-open-predictions","tag-coco-gauff","tag-coco-gauff-predictions","tag-elina-svitolina","tag-elina-svitolina-predictions","tag-iva-jovic","tag-iva-jovic-predictions","tag-karolina-muchova","tag-karolina-muchova-predictions","tag-mirra-andreeva","tag-mirra-andreeva-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions","tag-victoria-mboko","tag-victoria-mboko-predictions","tag-yulia-putintseva","tag-yulia-putintseva-predictions"],"modified_by":"Shane Black","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4067"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96668"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96673,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96668\/revisions\/96673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}