{"id":425051,"date":"2026-01-23T13:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/425051\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T13:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:29:09","slug":"american-teen-stuns-7th-seed-at-australian-open-for-career-best-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/425051\/","title":{"rendered":"American teen stuns 7th seed at Australian Open for career-best win"},"content":{"rendered":"

American 18-year-old Iva Jovic pulled off the biggest upset of her young career when she stunned Italian seventh seed Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 7-6(3) at the Australian Open<\/a> on Friday for her first Grand Slam last-16 appearance.<\/p>\n

The 29th seed turned the tables on Paolini, who had beaten her last year at Indian Wells and the U.S. Open, to claim her maiden victory over a top-10 player and extend her tour-leading win streak to 10 matches in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels amazing, I\u2019ve been working really hard for it. I\u2019ve been wanting this one for a while now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sign up for NBC News\u2019 The Sports Desk newsletter <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI had a couple of tough losses. I\u2019m just so happy to get through that barrier and get the win today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jovic had the opportunity to serve for the match before Paolini fought back to force a tiebreak, where the American showed her nerve and won the last five points to book a fourth-round clash with Yulia Putintseva.<\/p>\n

\" Jasmine Paolini, left, and Iva Jovic at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne on Friday.Aaron Favila \/ AP<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to focus on what I was doing earlier in the match, being really aggressive and controlling the play,\u201d Jovic added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when I served for the match, I got a little too passive. So I told myself to go out swinging and it helped in the tiebreak.\u201d<\/p>\n

It capped a memorable day for North American teenagers after Canadian 19-year-old Victoria Mboko also advanced with a 7-6(5) 5-7 6-3 victory over Clara Tauson.<\/p>\n

Paolini, the world number eight, took a medical timeout in the opening set and afterwards revealed she had been hampered by a stomach problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I lay down on the sofa after lunch and that wasn\u2019t a good idea for my stomach. I stepped on court and I couldn\u2019t move at my best.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Paolini was full of praise for her young opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s very tough opponent already \u2014 very mature on court, not many mistakes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s playing good every shot, basically. So I think she has a really bright future ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"American 18-year-old Iva Jovic pulled off the biggest upset of her young career when she stunned Italian seventh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-425051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}