Victoria Mboko says it's 'only a matter of time' after Roland Garros breakthrough

Zheng Qinwen has yet to lose a set through three rounds of Roland Garros, but the Olympic champion was nonetheless left particularly impressed by what she saw on the other side of the net on Friday in her third-round match against Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko.

"For sure she will be one of the best players in the future," Zheng declared of the 18-year-old after safely moving through to the last 16 in Paris for the second time, 6-3, 6-4. "I'm 100% sure because she already got the strength, the game. There is nothing more I can say."

Particularly in the second set, Zheng needed to find what she said was "the greatest tennis [she's] played here so far" to match her all-time best result in Paris. She escaped a 0-40 deficit in the eighth game of the second set, and also swatted away two break points when serving out the match, and prasied Mboko for having a diverse toolkit even at her young age.

"She hits the ball really hard, and then she had a great serve. She had, you know, huge power. She moves on the court really well," she said. "It was honestly really tricky and tough match, because I know if my mental goes a bit down or lose focus, I feel she gonna turn around the match."

Read more: Why Zheng Qinwen is "too shy" to wear this Roland Garros outfit

"I'm really happy to face her today, and I'm sure it's not gonna be the last time," Zheng added. "I will face her more time in the future. I wish her all the best, as well."

Read more: Victoria Mboko goes for gold in memorable Roland Garros debut

Mboko, meanwhile, agreed with Zheng's assessment that she already has the tennis tools to go toe-to-toe with the game's best players, as evidenced in three matches with Top 10 opponents already this year and her 42-6 record at all levels of pro tennis. Taking the next step will come from off-court intangibles.

Q. You've played three top-10 players: Badosa, Coco, now Zheng. Can you compare who hits harder, whose ball is tougher to handle for you? How do you compare the three of them?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Honestly, I think all three of them hit pretty hard (smiling). No, but all three of them also have a very unique game.

Qinwen today, she has really heavy and hard balls, yeah, shots on her ball. I mean, I think I was struggling a lot with that. Especially on the clay, her ball is really effective.

Coco, she is very athletic. She moves very well. She's on every single ball. She still hits powerful shots.

Maybe with Paula, she hits also an incredibly hard ball.

I played all three of them on different surfaces, so it's kind of hard to compare. Yeah, it's obviously a really difficult level to play against them. But I'm glad to have experienced that overall against them.

Q. That was the actual question. Now that you've seen what the level is at the very, very top level, do you go to work and figure what you need to do to be able to stay in rallies all day long with that quality of ball?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, that could also just relate to the fitness aspect, too. I feel like hitting-wise I think I could also handle the shots, as well. I've been playing against a lot of hard-hitters anyways.

But I think it's just a matter of fitness, a matter of stamina, a lot of working in the gym towards those stuff. I think it's just a matter of time at the end of the day.

This time last year, Mboko was ranked No. No 308. Next Monday, she is nearly all but assured of cracking the Top 100.