On Thursday, January 15, 2026, Madison Keys lost her quarterfinals match of the ongoing Adelaide International against World No. 17 Victoria Mboko of Canada by sets of 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in a 1hr and 52minute match.
Over 50 unforced errors gave Keys a disappointing end to her campaign in the final warm-up match ahead of the season’s first Glam Slam, the Australian Open 2026, scheduled to begin on Sunday, January 18. Keys will compete in her first match against Ukraine’s Oleksandra Oliynykova.
Keys is a former winner of the 2025 edition of the Adelaide International and has won her maiden Slam title in Melbourne the same year. In the quarterfinals match, Keys lost the opening set but made a good comeback in the second round before ending in failure in the deciding set. On both occasions, Mboko led her winning set by 4-1. Last year, Mboko won the WTA 1000 title in Montreal and the Hong Kong Open and was ranked 337th in the world.
Mboko will play her semi-finals match on Friday, January 16, against Australia’s Kimberly Birrell. Birrell won her quarterfinals match against Romanian Jacqueline Cristian by sets of 5-7, 6-1, 7-5. In the other quarterfinals matches of the women’s singles event, Russia’s Mirra Andreeva defeated Australia’s Maya Joint by 6-2, 6-0, while Emma Navarro lost her match to Russian Diana Shnaider.
Meanwhile, Keys will be a central figure of the Australian Open 2026 as the defending champion in the women’s singles event. She was recently named number six on the Forbes list of the highest-paid women athletes of 2025, behind names like Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, and Qinwen Zheng. Last season, she finished at No. 7 in the WTA rankings with $13.4 million achieved in earnings, including $4.4 million through participation and victories and the remaining $9 million through endorsements.
Post-match win to Keys, Mboko said, “There were ups and downs in the match, I had to weather the storm.” She had hoped for a tough fight against Keys, who won the 2025 edition, but the result ended in her favour this time.
“She won here last year so I know coming in this would be a big fight. I’m glad I was able to get it done. Madison is a tough player, she didn’t get to where she is without a reason. It’s nice to play a former champion to see what I can do,” she added.
