Iva Jovic became the youngest American woman to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open since Venus Williams in 1998, by dismantling the Kazakhstani veteran Yulia Putintseva 6-0, 6-1 on Sunday.
At 18, Jovic arrived in Melbourne as the youngest player inside the top 100 and the 27th seed has dominated all opposition, rolling through her four matches without dropping a set. Jovic’s third-round win against the No 7 seed, Jasmine Paolini, was the first top-20 win of her career. Still, Jovic rejected the notion that she is swinging freely with nothing to lose.
“I don’t really feel like there is a lot of house money or underdog mentality that I’m feeling, because I don’t feel like I have been playing anything outside of my comfort zone or outside of my normal level,” Jovic said.
“I have come from two other tournaments where I was playing every day and winning a lot of matches, as well. So this week and the level that I’m showing right now doesn’t really feel much different than that. So it’s just another week that I’m winning more matches, which is nice to see.”
Jovic’s supreme performances have afforded her the biggest match of her young career as she will face Aryna Sabalenka, the No 1 seed and two-time champion, in the quarter‑final. In one of her most impressive performances at the tournament, Sabalenka elevated her level after a late surge from the immensely talented 19-year-old Victoria Mboko to win 6-1, 7-6 (1) and advance to her 13th consecutive grand slam quarter-final.
Shortly after their matches on Sunday, Jovic returned to the court in doubles alongside Mboko, where the pair competed for 2hr 39min against the fourth seeds, Elise Mertens and Zhang Shuai, before losing 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (10).
“Me and Vicky signed up for this doubles for fun. We went to the first match, and we were not sure if there was [advantages]. So we were asking the ref: ‘Do we play ads? What’s going on here?’ Then we realised there were ads, and I didn’t realise until today that there was a third set. So I was like: ‘Oh my God, what? This is going to be three times longer than my singles match.’ Then it went six in the third.
“But at that point I was like: ‘All right.’ One of the most unbelievable doubles matches I’ve ever played. It was outrageous. The crowd was going crazy. There were so many long points. It was a lot of fun. My soul is a little hurt that we lost that one, because it got so close, and I wanted that win.”
Coco Gauff and Elina Svitolina will face each other in the other top‑half quarter-final after Gauff, the third seed, survived the challenge of the 19th seed, Karolina Muchova, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Svitolina, seeded 12th, upset the eighth seed, Mirra Andreeva, 6-2, 6-4.
In the men’s draw the top seed, Carlos Alcaraz, will face the sixth seed, Alex de Minaur, after the Australian rolled past Alexander Bublik, the 10th seed, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1. The 25th seed, Learner Tien, meanwhile, was responsible for the most eye-catching result of the day as he demolished Daniil Medvedev, the Russian 11th seed and a three‑time finalist, 6-4, 6-0, 6-3.
“He played great,” Medvedev said of his American conqueror. “Super‑aggressive. Even when I was making good shots, he was making a better shot back. Didn’t find many solutions today on the court, which is rare, and I didn’t feel that many times in my life like this. But these things can happen.”
Tien will face Alexander Zverev after the third seed eased past Francisco Cerúndolo, the 18th seed, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.
