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Live sport on SN this weekendUS teen steamrolls to Open showdown with Sabalenka
Melissa Woods, AAP • January 25th, 2026 5:39 pm
World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka was the first player through to the Australian Open quarter-finals | Photo: Rob Prezioso/AAP
With Novak Djokovic among her fans, Iva Jovic has underlined her status as an Australian Open dark horse with the American teenager scorching into her maiden grand slam quarter-final.
Jovic swept aside veteran Kazak Yulia Putintseva 6-0 6-1, taking just 53 minutes to set up a mouth-watering clash with world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka.
Sabalenka earlier outplayed another teenager, Canada's Victoria Mboko, to keep her plans of regaining her Australian Open crown on track.
The two-time champion was relieved to survive a second-set wobble and closed out the contest 6-1 7-6 (7-1) to surge into her 13th consecutive grand slam quarter-final.
While the pre-tournament buzz was around Mboko and another seeded teenager in Australia's top ranked Maya Joint, world No.27Jovic was the one to make her mark at Melbourne Park.
Jovic had two break points against her on her opening serve but regrouped to hold and then never looked back, winning 10 consecutive games before Putintseva got on the board.
The 18-year-old set up the win on the back of a lethal service game, finding the mark with a stunning 71 per cent of first serves, and then belted 17 winners to her opponent's four.
"I feel great, I'm really glad to get through," Jovic said.
"Obviously the scoreline is favourable, but it doesn't matter how you get it done, I just wanted to get it done.
"I felt like if I let her come back a little bit, it would become a dogfight, so I just tried to keep it as far away as possible and I'm just so happy to be in the quarterfinals."
Born in Californian to Serbian parents, Jovic and her family met up with Djokovic at Melbourne Park this week with the 10-time champion saying the youngster has "all the tools to be a future champion, a future No.1".
Sabalenka was first up on court on Rod Laver Arena and fans barely had time to take their seats before she steamed through the opening set of the fourth-round clash in 31 minutes.
Mboko won her first service game but the rest of the set was one-way traffic with Sabalenka appearing to turn the outing into a Sunday stroll.
Building a reputation as a three-set specialist, Mboko worked her way into the match in the second set and from 4-1 down levelled at 5-5 with Sabalenka blowing three match points.
But the big-serving Belarusian regained her focus to win an incredible 20th successive tie-break at grand slam level to seal the victory in 86 minutes.
The 27-year-old is looking to make amends for her three-set loss in last year's final against Madison Keys, which halted her run of Australian Open crowns at two.
"What an incredible player for such a young age," Sabalenka said.
"These kids coming up on tour... an incredible player who pushed me really hard today.
"I'm super happy with the win and, once again, in straight sets.
"She played incredible tennis. She pushed me so much, and happy to be through."
