With two men and four players in the top 10 of the world rankings, US tennis is experiencing good times. And this state of grace should continue in the future thanks to the affirmation of young values. If Learner Tien, 20 years old, had already revealed himself to the world exactly a year ago, this Australian Open confirmed the quality of fellow Californian Iva Jovic. With a brilliant start to the season, the 18-year-old tennis player, who had never made it past the second round of a Grand Slam tournament, is now the youngest US woman to reach the quarter-finals in Melbourne since Venus Williams, in 1998, and, like her compatriot then, without giving up any set.
After a semi-final in Auckland and a final in Hobart, Jovic arrived at the Australian Open full of confidence, which was clearly evident in the duel with the more experienced Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (94th), who swept in 53 minutes: 6-0, 6-1. “The result is favorable, obviously, but it doesn’t matter how you achieve it. I just wanted to win and I felt that if I let her react a little it would become a tough battle. So I tried to maintain the advantage as long as possible, and I’m very happy to be in the quarter-finals”, said Jovic, the youngest to inflict a 6-0 in the round of 16 of a major since Martina Hingis in 1998.
Another young woman who stood out in this Open was Victoria Mboko (16th). The 19-year-old Canadian recovered from 1-4 in the second set against Aryna Sabalenka and saved four match points, but ended up giving in, 6-1, 7-6 (7/1). After winning the 20th consecutive tie-break since August 2023, the leader of the women’s ranking will face Jovic. “Obviously she’s number one for a reason and she’s had a lot of success in this tournament, but that’s what I want. I’ve already said that I hope to play against her this year because I definitely want to play against the best and see how things go. I’m excited,” admitted the newest top 100 player.
With the triumph over Karolina Muchova (19th), 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, Coco Gauff (3rd) and Jovic are the first pair of US players to reach the “quarters” of a major before turning 22, since the Williams sisters, at the 2022 Roland Garros Tournament.
In the men’s category, Learner Tien is the youngest tennis player in the USA to debut in the “rooms” of a major since Andy Roddick at the 2001 US Open, after repeating last year’s victory over Daniil Medvedev, then in the second round and in five sets.
This year, Tien (29th) did not have to go through qualifying and, after eliminating Nuno Borges, clearly dominated the current 12th in the ranking, 6-4, 6-0 and 6-3. In the quarter-finals, the athlete trained by former world number two Michael Chang will face Alexander Zverev (3rd).
Carlos Alcaraz (1st), who beat Tommy Paul (20th), 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 and 7-5, faces Alex De Minaur (6th), with Novak Djokovic (4th) also in the quarter-finals, after the announced withdrawal of Jakub Mensik (17th).
