American teenager Iva Jovic will be at the centre of attention on day one of the ASB Classic, with the 18-year-old scheduled to play twice on Centre Court as the Auckland tournament gets under way.

Jovic, who is the No 3 seed, opens the day session in singles against qualifier Gabriela Knutson from the Czech Republic, before returning later in the afternoon for a high-profile doubles match alongside Alexandra Eala, taking on the star pairing of Venus Williams and Elina Svitolina.

Jovic, who won the WTA 500 tournament in Guadalajara in Mexico last year, is regarded as one of the most exciting young players in tennis and is already up to No 35 in the world rankings.

Her decision to start the season in Auckland was a considered one, made after discussions with her coaching team.

“I was just sitting with my coach. We were looking at the potential tournaments that I could play,” Jovic said. 

“I heard some really nice things about Auckland and I decided to come out here. I thought a WTA 250 is a great level to start the new year and I’m excited to be here.”

Making the early jump up from the junior to professional tour comes with challenges, while she has proved she has the ability to play at the WTA level, she has to learn how to deal with the losses most weeks, while still focussing on the big picture.

“That one’s difficult for me,” she said. 

“I’ve been thinking about my New Year’s resolution, so that’s a really good one, but hopefully I can learn how to lose a little bit better. 

“I don’t particularly enjoy losing and have maybe worse reactions than I should, but that’s something I’m working on, because there’s a lot more losing that goes on in the pros than in the juniors. So you have to kind of ride the wave a little bit.”

ASB Classic tournament director Nicolas Lamperin said spectators are likely to be struck by Jovic’s composure.

“I think they’re going to be very impressed about the maturity of a player at this young age,” he said. “I saw her today practicing against Elina. They played a set, the quality was really up there. And, even Elina, who has been on the tour for many years, was impressed. So I would really value her chances to go far.”

The doubles match later on Centre Court required changes to the schedule.

“To be transparent, we were not going to play any doubles on Centre Court on day one,” Lamperin said.

“So we’ve had to speak to the Tour and the TVs to change the schedule. Because we believed we can’t have Venus and Elina play on Grandstand (Court), it just doesn’t work, and it wouldn’t be safe. 

“I’m super happy because it will be one of the blockbusters games of the day, and also give the option for fans to watch Venus on Monday, but also back on court in singles on Tuesday.”

The evening session on Monday will feature two singles matches, with second seed Emma Navarro facing Francesca Jones, followed by former champion Sloane Stephens against Renata Zarazua.

SCHEDULE

CENTRE COURT starts at 11:30 AM
[3] I. Jovic (USA) vs [Q] G. Knutson (CZE) 
[7] Xin. Wang (CHN) vs C. McNally (USA) 
After suitable rest A. Eala (PHI) / I. Jovic (USA) vs [WC] E. Svitolina (UKR) / V. Williams (USA) 
NB 6:00 PM F. Jones (GBR) vs [2] E. Navarro (USA) 
[WC] S. Stephens (USA) vs R. Zarazua (MEX) 

GRANDSTAND starts at 11:30 AM
P. Udvardy (HUN) vs S. Bejlek (CZE) 
[Q] S. Costoulas (BEL) vs [Q] W. Osuigwe (USA) 
[Q] K. Quevedo (ESP) vs [8] P. Stearns (USA) 
[Q] S. Kraus (AUT) vs J. Grabher (AUT) 

COURT 1 starts at 11:30 AM
I. Haverlag (NED) / M. Lumsden (GBR) vs I. Martins (BRA) / L. Pigossi (BRA) 
S. Santamaria (USA) / Q. Tang (CHN) vs S. Aoyama (JPN) / M. Linette (POL) 
[3] Y. Xu (CHN) / Z. Yang (CHN) vs [WC] M. Barry (NZL) / E. Tse (NZL)