The young American knocked out the eighth racket and reached the 1/8 finals of Aus Open 2026

18-year-old American tennis player Iva Jovich (WTA 27) advanced to the second week of the 2026 Australian Open.

In the third round, the young American beat the eighth ranked player in the world Jasmine Paolini (Italy) in 1 hour and 48 minutes.

Jovic held her third head-to-head match against Paolini and won her first victory over the Italian (debut victory over a tennis player from the top 10 of the WTA ranking).

Iva made it to the fourth round of the Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

Iva’s next opponent will be a representative of Kazakhstan Yulia Putintseva (WTA 94), who defeated Zeynep Sonmez (Turkey, WTA 112). This will be the first meeting between Jovich and Putintseva.

Australian Open 2026. 1/32 of the final

Iva Jovich (USA) [29] – Jasmine Paolini (Italy) [7] – 6:2, 7:6 (7:3)

Zeynep Sonmez (Turkey) [Q] – Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan) – 3:6, 7:6 (7:3), 3:6