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Playing her first tournament since winning her second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, Rybakina was in position to reach the semifinals in Doha before Victoria Mboko roared back in the final set, 7-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Rybakina was in position to rise to No. 2 in the WTA rankings after a quarterfinal exit from top seed Iga Swiatek earlier in the evening, but the Canadian teenager is proving a tough rival for Rybakina with their head-to-head now locked up at two wins apiece.

Still, the No. 2 seed took heart from a hard-fought week at the first WTA 1000 tournament of the season, having played three long sets against Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the previous round:

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Victoria Mboko snaps Elena Rybakina streak | Doha highlights

Q. Did you feel you had recovered from yesterday’s match? Because you had a tough one against Qinwen [Zheng].

ELENA RYBAKINA: It was a tough match and I’m actually happy that I managed to give this fight. I hadn’t played such long matches in a long time. In Australia, we always had a day in between and I was playing all the matches in two sets except for the final. I think it was still a good tournament for me. I had to do some stuff outside of the court. I think it’s a good preparation, even for the other tournaments.

Taking a light-hearted approach to looking towards the rest of the season, it was clear Rybakina has her eye on even more major victories:

Q. If you could win another Grand Slam this year, would you rather win Wimbledon again or one of the other two?

ELENA RYBAKINA: All of them! (laughs) There is nothing to choose. It doesn’t matter which Grand Slam. But that’s the goal.

Into her second career WTA 1000 semifinal, Mboko will next face two-time Doha finalist Jelena Ostapenko.

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