{"id":199002,"date":"2026-01-23T14:49:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T12:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=199002"},"modified":"2026-01-23T14:49:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T12:49:20","slug":"iva-jovic-swept-aside-the-world-no-8-the-serbian-born-player-from-the-usa-staged-a-miracle-to-reach-the-australian-open-round-of-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/iva-jovic-swept-aside-the-world-no-8-the-serbian-born-player-from-the-usa-staged-a-miracle-to-reach-the-australian-open-round-of-16\/","title":{"rendered":"IVA JOVI\u0106 SWEPT ASIDE THE WORLD NO. 8: The Serbian-born player from the USA staged a miracle to reach the Australian Open round of 16!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>World No. 8, Italian Jasmine Paolini, failed to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open after losing in the third round to world No. 27, American Iva Jovi\u0107, in straight sets, 2:6, 6:7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jovi\u0107 will face world No. 94, Kazakhstan\u2019s Yulia Putintseva, in the round of 16, and her match against Paolini showed that she is ready for big things and capable of pulling off a miracle in Melbourne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first set was almost ideal for Jovi\u0107. The Serbian tennis player broke Paolini\u2019s serve three times, while the Italian managed to respond with just one break, allowing Iva to take a quick and confident lead in the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second set saw a much tougher battle. Jovi\u0107 was twice just a step away from victory, serving for the match at 5:4 and 6:5, but Paolini escaped both times and managed to break back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, in the tie-break Jovi\u0107 showed composure and mental toughness, took control, and closed out the match after one hour and 25 minutes of play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">First top 10 win! \u2705<br>First career Grand Slam second week! \u2705<br><br>And she only just turned 18.<br><br>Iva Jovic is the real deal! What a player!\ud83d\ude0d\ud83d\udc4f<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AusOpen?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AusOpen<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ao26?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ao26<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ILYetotqRX\">pic.twitter.com\/ILYetotqRX<\/a><\/p>&mdash; til polarity&#39;s end \ud83c\udfbe\u26a1#SpallettiEra\u26a1\u26ab\u26aa (@lildarkcage) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lildarkcage\/status\/2014610410289217929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 23, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Who is Iva Jovi\u0107, really?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Iva Jovi\u0107 competes under the American flag, although both her father Bojan and mother Jelena were born in the Balkans, while she herself was born in the United States. Iva\u2019s father was born in Leskovac, which he still visits with his daughter today, while her mother is a Serb from Split.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many years ago, Iva\u2019s parents moved to America, so she decided to play for that country (she herself points out that she has great support from the local federation), and not for Serbia, although there was a basis for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iva also has an older sister, Mia, lives in Los Angeles, and started training tennis at just five years of age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She comes to Serbia quite often and spends part of the year there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFrom a young age, every summer I go to Serbia for two or three months. I have family in Belgrade, then I go to Leskovac. Before tennis, before it became serious, I went there every summer,\u201d Jovi\u0107 said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given her background, it could not be otherwise than to adore specialties from Leskovac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI adore Leskovac \u0107evapi, burek, pies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">MORE TOPICS:<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/rainy-serbs-from-north-america-they-raised-a-church-from-the-ashes-and-now-americans-are-converting-to-orthodoxy-with-them-and-they-still-make-the-best-cevapi-in-the-world-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">RAINY SERBS FROM NORTH AMERICA: They raised a church from the ashes, and now Americans are converting to Orthodoxy with them! And they still make the best cevapi in the world! (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/for-the-second-time-after-70-years-orthodox-christians-near-zadar-swam-for-the-holy-cross-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">FOR THE SECOND TIME AFTER 70 YEARS: Orthodox Christians near Zadar swam for the Holy Cross! (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/jos-uvek-spava-mozak-ne-reaguje-novi-detalji-o-stanju-malog-nika-antica-12-kog-je-napala-ajkula-u-sidneju\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">\u201cHE IS STILL ASLEEP, THE BRAIN IS NOT RESPONDING\u201d: New details on the condition of little Niko Anti\u0107 (12), who was attacked by a shark in Sydney<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/tragedy-in-belgrade-brother-of-famous-footballer-nemanja-vidic-found-dead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong>TRAGEDY IN BELGRADE: Brother of famous footballer Nemanja Vidi\u0107 found dead!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/everything-goes-slowly-the-medicine-is-always-the-same-a-serb-living-in-sweden-lashed-out-at-the-healthcare-system-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">\u201cEVERYTHING GOES SLOWLY, THE MEDICINE IS ALWAYS THE SAME\u201d: A Serb living in Sweden lashed out at the healthcare system! (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/nova.rs\/sport\/tenis\/iva-jovic-razbila-osmu-na-svetu-sprema-se-za-cudo-u-melburnu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Nova.rs<\/a>; <strong>Foto<\/strong>: AP \/Aaron Favila<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>World No. 8, Italian Jasmine Paolini, failed to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open after losing in the third round to world No. 27, American Iva Jovi\u0107, in straight sets, 2:6, 6:7. Jovi\u0107 will face world No. 94, Kazakhstan\u2019s Yulia Putintseva, in the round of 16, and her match against Paolini showed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2169,"featured_media":199003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[71,1508,23,91,113,252],"class_list":["post-199002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-amerika","tag-australijan-open","tag-sad","tag-sport","tag-srbija","tag-tenis","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Serbiantimes.info EN","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199002"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199033,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199002\/revisions\/199033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}