Iva Jovic Reaches US Open Third Round Unbeaten in Sets
The 18 year old tennis player of Serbian descent has reached the third round of the US Open without dropping a single set, breaking through a barrier that had stopped her the previous two years.
After the final point, Iva Jovic allowed herself only a brief fist pump, no big celebration, as if she knew this round had cost her more nerves than she wanted. Closing out the match against Francesca Jones took more than one match point, more than two, more than three. It was only on the fourth that the last point finally came, sealing a 6:4, 6:4 win and a place in the US Open third round.
The tournament’s official account described the moment in a post right after the match: “Fourth match point is the charm!”
Why this round marks a breakthrough for Jovic
Jovic is 18, born in the United States, where she competes, while her parents are of Serbian origin. She arrived at this US Open ranked 14th on the WTA list and reached the match against Jones without having dropped a set. In the previous two years she had been stopped at this exact stage, the second round, at the same tournament. Now that is history: this is her third straight US Open appearance, and the first time she has gone further.
The match against the Briton showed why that step forward came now. Jovic signaled from the start that she was ready for a big result, going up 3:1 on the back of two straight breaks, and when Jones hit back with a break of her own, it did not throw her off her game. The toughest test of the first set came when she served for it at 5:4. She held her nerve and closed out the set.
The second set started even more convincingly. Two fresh breaks put her up 4:0, and the Briton tried to fight back, the way players with nothing left to lose usually do. She could not turn the match around, only delay the ending until that fourth match point.
Who does Iva Jovic face in the third round?
Up next is Alex Eala, who beat Ukraine’s Oleksandra Oliynykova in straight sets in the second round. It will be a clash between two names from tennis’s young wave, two players drawing more and more attention at the majors, at a stage where both are still building their Grand Slam resumes.
For Jovic, this is a chance to go past the third round at the US Open for the first time, at a tournament where she had never previously advanced beyond the stage she has now reached. Two matches without a dropped set say her form is there and her serve holds up when it matters most, and Jones’s fightback in the second set never turned into so much as a won set, let alone a turnaround.
What showed up in this match, a fast start followed by a dip in concentration when it was time to close out a set, will be tested again in the third round. Against a player of Eala’s level, a fourth match point might not come in time to fix things.
To me, this pattern, a quick double break at the start followed by nerves right when the set needs closing out, is familiar from young players carrying the weight of a big result for the first time. It has not cost Jovic yet, only an extra game here and there, but in the third round she will be facing an opponent more experienced in these moments than Jones was. Her next match will show whether Jovic is ready to apply that lesson from the first game, rather than only once her opponent is already threatening a comeback.
