It\u2019s the kind of matchup worthy of a holiday complete with fireworks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know she\u2019s going to come after me hard,\u201d the 32-year-old Pegula said following her clinical 6-1, 6-3 third-round defeat of Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone kind of wants to be the top American, I guess,\u201d agreed Jovic, an 18-year-old from Torrance who toughed out a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win over Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia on Friday to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time. \u201cThere is a little bit extra competition there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pegula and Jovic are hardly unfamiliar opponents, and not just because people frequently told a young Jovic to model her game after Pegula. The two have met three times before, including twice this year, on hard courts in Dubai and on clay in Charleston, S.C. Pegula won all three matches. <\/p>\n
![\"American](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783209220_824_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
American Jessica Pegula serves the ball during a win over Spain\u2019s Sara Sorribes Tormo at Wimbledon on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
(Kirsty Wigglesworth \/ Ap Photo\/kirsty Wigglesworth)<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot of things we do well, and we do similar, but a couple of differences too,\u201d Jovic noted of their baseline-centric, tactical styles.<\/p>\n
Pegula is expecting nothing less than a mirror-like baseline duel from the player she affectionately dubbed \u201cmini-me\u201d after beating her in February.<\/p>\n
Their career arcs have taken different paths to their first Grand Slam meeting. Pegula spent years grinding away on the Women\u2019s Tennis Assn.\u2019s lower tier before becoming a late-blooming major contender and top-10 mainstay. The experience gap remains enormous: Pegula owns 11 career singles titles to Jovic\u2019s one and has amassed more than 500 tour-level wins compared with just over 100 for the teenager.<\/p>\n
Jovic, a top-ranked junior in just her second Wimbledon, quickly has made her presence felt on tour, becoming the youngest player to win a WTA title last season at 17 before backing it up with her breakout quarterfinal run at the Australian Open in January. She is the youngest player in the top 20 and the youngest remaining in the Wimbledon singles draw.<\/p>\n
After watching Jovic\u2019s rise this season, Pegula praised her competitive instincts and rapid adjustment to grass.<\/p>\n
Jovic \u201ccompetes like an animal,\u201d Pegula said.<\/p>\n
Their relationship to grass, however, couldn\u2019t be more different.<\/p>\n
Pegula historically has not been a force at Wimbledon, reaching the quarterfinals only once in 2023. She acknowledges battling her own instincts on the surface.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like sometimes years in the past I\u2019ve really fought against how to move on it, fought against all the intangibles, all the slices,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
This year she\u2019s relaxed her approach, improved her balance and added more pop to her serve, a major asset on grass.<\/p>\n
Jovic, by contrast, has been a quick study when it comes to adapting to the tricky footing, sliding and occasional tumbles on grass. She\u2019s taken to the lawns of London like a natural despite growing up in Los Angeles County, where grass courts are virtually nonexistent.<\/p>\n
Jovic credits playing left wing in local soccer leagues from about ages 6 to 13 for her exceptional, low-to-the-ground footwork. That cross-training has paid dividends. She won her first professional title on grass in England last year and recently reached the semifinals at the prestigious Queen\u2019s Club warmup event.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very closely related to the movement that we do in tennis,\u201d Jovic said of soccer.<\/p>\n
Jovic, who\u2019s of Serbian and Croatian descent, also has been keeping tabs on the World Cup, though rooting for the U.S. during late starts has proved challenging in Europe.<\/p>\n
Hall of Fame analyst Pam Shriver says the age gap adds a fascinating dimension to the grass-court chess match.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s interesting when rivalries can develop generations apart from the same country, and I think they have a really good respect for each other,\u201d Shriver said.<\/p>\n
![\"Torrance](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783209220_236_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Torrance native Iva Jovic, left, congratulates fellow American Jessica Pegula after Pegula won their match during the Charleston Open on April 4 in Charleston, S.C.<\/p>\n
(Matthew Stockman \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Shriver added that Jovic can learn from Pegula\u2019s cerebral approach, while veterans like Pegula can tap into a fresh mindset from the younger generation\u2019s unflinching energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt goes by so fast,\u201d Pegula acknowledged of the creeping sense of urgency in pursuit of her first major title.<\/p>\n
Jovic is aware Sunday\u2019s match is a massive opportunity to prove her rapid ascent is no fluke and flip the script on her head-to-head deficit.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, this will be the one I get her,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Through the first week in London, Pegula has been in sharper form. She hasn\u2019t dropped a set in three matches, gliding into the fourth round and looking more and more like the favorite in her quarter. She also feasts on fellow Americans. Since 2023, Pegula is an impressive 34-3 against her compatriots.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always motivated to beat the other Americans in a way that\u2019s different,\u201d Pegula said. \u201cExcited again to challenge myself against someone who is much younger, who is playing with nothing to lose and no fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, reaching next weekend\u2019s final will require either player to navigate a brutal top half of the draw. It includes four-time major winners Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka, two-time major champion Gauff and the last Wimbledon champion left in the field, 2024 winner Barbora Krejcikova.<\/p>\n
On a weekend devoted to celebrating the U.S., at least one American will be celebrating at Wimbledon when the fireworks fade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0During a weekend that celebrates life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, Wimbledon offers an American variation in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[155841,27463,21236,3622,155846,82897,155845,155844,155842,48,52,51,47,50,49,2592,776,2695,155843,72,96254],"class_list":["post-386473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-32-year-old-pegula","tag-american","tag-approach","tag-court","tag-first-professional-title","tag-grass","tag-iva-jovic-chase","tag-jessica-pegula","tag-jovic","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-pursuit","tag-sunday","tag-weekend","tag-wimbledon-showdown","tag-year","tag-young-player"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}