One of the best ways to tell if a young player is cut out to be a legit force on the WTA Tour is watching said player come back two days after an epic victory against a lower-ranked opponent.
Iva Jovic passed that test with flying colors when she backed up her upset of No.7-seeded Jasmine Paolini in Melbourne with a 53-minute fourth-round drubbing of Yulia Putintseva that saw her drop just one game.
The 18-year-old Southern California native, who will face Aryna Sabalenka in her first major quarterfinal, is taking her success in stride. She’s put in tons of work to get where she is, and she expects that work to pay dividends.
Asked if she felt like she was an underdog with nothing to lose by a reporter on Day 8, Jovic says that isn’t how she feels.
“I don’t really feel like there is a lot of house money or underdog mentality that I’m feeling, because I don’t feel like I have been playing anything outside of my comfort zone or outside of my normal level,” she said.
Those words remind us a little bit of the time that Iga Swiatek told a reporter that she’s always had sucess in the juniors so why shouldn’t she expect to have success when she stepped onto the tours.
“I think going from juniors to senior, I guess I wasn’t that stressed,” Swiatek said during her Roland-Garros debut. “I just felt that I knew here I don’t have to win anything, so that’s why I could play my best.
“And it was quite normal to me just to go to another level. I’ve done that all my life, so why would that be different.
Swiatek expected to win from Day 1 as a pro, and so does Jovic.
“I have come from two other tournaments where I was playing every day and winning a lot of matches, as well,” Jovic added, referring to her semifinal in Auckland and final in Hobart prior to the Australian Open. “So this week and the level that I’m showing right now doesn’t really feel much different than that. So it’s just another week that I’m winning more matches, which is nice to see.
“I think I have improved a lot throughout the offseason, and this is just the level that I feel like I’ve gotten my base level a bit higher. Hopefully I can just maintain that every day.”
Jovic, the youngest American to reach the last eight at the Australian Open since Venus Williams in 1998, leads the WTA Tour with 11 wins thus far in 2026. She’s never faced a world No.1 before, but she’s not shying away from the challenge, not one bit.
“I’m just excited,” Jovic said. “I’m in the quarters, which is amazing for me. You’re going to play one of the best players at this stage of the tournament. That’s what you want.
“I’m just trusting the level that I have been able to put out, and hopefully that will be enough.”
