The future is bright — and awfully clutch.<\/p>\n
The next generation was in full force this past weekend, as 17-year-old Iva Jovic won the Guadalajara Open Akron Presented by Santander and 19-year-old Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah captured the SP Open in Sao Paulo. Jovic defeated Emiliana Arango 6-4, 6-1, and Rakotomanga Rajaonah upset Indonesian Janice Tjen — also a first-time finalist — 6-3, 6-4 to win not only her first Hologic WTA Tour title, but her first career hard-court title as a professional at any level. (How’s that for your first?!)<\/p>\n
How improbable was this title for Rakotomanga Rajaonah? Keep in mind that in her first-round match, she trailed Ana Sofia Sanchez 5-0 in the deciding third set before storming back and winning it in a tiebreak. She didn’t drop a set the rest of the tournament.<\/p>\n
Teenagers are now 7-0 in WTA finals this season.<\/p>\n
With the title in Mexico, Jovic — the youngest player in the Top 100 of the PIF WTA Rankings — became the youngest player to win a WTA title this year, and became the youngest American to win a WTA title since Coco Gauff won in Parma, Italy four years ago.<\/p>\n
Jovic, a Southern California native, entered the tournament ranked 73rd in the world. She’s now No. 36 and boasts a sparkling 35-13 record in 2025.<\/p>\n
Prior to Jovic’s title in Guadalajara, the youngest player to win a tour-level title this year was now-No. 5 Mirra Andreeva, who won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February. (She, too, was 17 years old, but a couple weeks older than Jovic when she won.) Andreeva followed that up with a title in Indian Wells, another WTA 1000 tournament, the next month.<\/p>\n
The other teens who won finals this year are 19-year-old Maya Joint — who won in Rabat and Eastbourne — and then-18-year-old Victoria Mboko, who came into Montreal as a wild card, ranked 85th in the world, and defeated four Grand Slam champions en route to the prestigious title.<\/p>\n
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