Impressive showing Down Under for Cross
Kayla Cross, a 16-year-old tennis star from London, reached the junior girls’ doubles final at the 2022 Australian Open. Cross placed second at the tournament with partner Victoria Mboko.
Kayla Cross, 16, during action at the 2022 Australian Open (Photo: Martin Sidorjak / Tennis Canada).
A remarkable run at the Australian Open came to an end for Forest City native Kayla Cross, who, along with doubles partner Victoria Mboko of Toronto, was defeated in the Junior Girls’ Doubles final at the Grand Slam event.
The Canadian pair fell 6-4, 6-3 to the top-ranked tandem of Clervie Ngounoue (United States)/Diana Shnaider (Russia) in the wee hours of Friday morning (EST) on Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne, Australia.
Despite the final score, Cross/Mboko continued to stand toe-to-toe with ranked opponents in the tourney by pushing the top seed throughout the match.
In the first set, Cross/Mboko held leads of 2-1, 3-1, 3-2, 4-2, and 4-3, but had trouble holding off the charging Ngounoue/Shnaider, who won four straight games to close out the set. Ngounoue/Shnaider took a crucial break point in the 10th game with a backhand winner.
In the second and final set, Cross/Mboko found themselves down 3-0 before fighting back to even by breaking their opponents’ serve once and holding twice. The comeback effort was not quite enough, however, as Ngounoue/Shnaider closed out the set and 56-minute match with three straight wins. Ngounoue/Shnaider held serve in the seventh game and then followed with a break in the eighth when Cross/Mboko hit a forehand wide.
Despite the loss, the second-place finish to the American-Russian combo capped an amazing run to the finals for the Canadian duo. Cross/Mboko fought their way to the finals through four matches, dispatching two ranked opponents and weathering two tiebreakers along the way.
The pair opened with a 7-6, 6-3 upset over No. 5 Lucija Ciric Bagaric (Croatia) and Sofia Costoulas (Belgium) before dispatching the Czech Republic pair of Lucie Havlickova and Dominika Salkova 7-6, 4-6, [10-4] in the second round. Cross/Mboko then cruised into the semi-finals with a 6-2, 6-2 win against Ekaterina Khayrutdinova (Russia) and Aruzhan Sagandikova (Kazakhstan).
In the semis, the No. 2 ranked pair of Petra Marcinko (Croatia) and Johanne Svendsen (Denmark) awaited the Canadians.
In the first set, Cross/Mboko won the tiebreaker 7-6(6) after saving set point in the 10th game. Marcinko/Svendsen dominated the second set 6-2, breaking Cross/Mboko in the first and fifth games. Regrouping from that second set, Cross/Mboko stunned the tourney by winning a third set tiebreaker 10-7 thanks, in part, to six unforced errors committed by Marcinko/Svendsen.
In the Australian Open Junior Singles competition, Cross won her opening match 6-3, 6-4 against Anastasiia Gureva of Russia before falling 2-6, 2-6 to Petra Marcinko of Croatia in the second round.
Cross, 16, got her start at 6 years old on the courts of the London Hunt and Country Club. Inspired by her dad and brothers who played the sport, she tagged along to their tournaments until she committed to tennis at 10 years old.
Playing Down Under was a special treat for Cross, who is inspired Australian tennis and cricket star Ashleigh Barty. Beyond similar styles of play on the court, Cross is also a multisport athlete, as she played competitive soccer up until the pandemic.
“I liked being part of a team,” she told Tennis Canada about her soccer experience. “It is like the opposite of tennis and was nice to have support from your team on the field.”
Earlier in the month, Cross had a five-match run to the AGL Loy Yang Traralgon International finals in which she was finally defeated, 6-4, 6-2, by Sofia Costoulas of Belgium.
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