Jovic blitzes Putintseva in 53 minutes to reach first Grand Slam quarterfinal in Melbourne

Iva Jovic has arrived.

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Playing in just her sixth Grand Slam, and her first as a seeded player, the 18-year-old American powered into her first Major quarterfinal with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Yulia Putintseva in 53 minutes.

The victory puts her in rare company: Jovic is now the youngest American to reach the Australian Open women’s singles quarterfinals since Venus Williams in 1998. Like Williams, she has reached this stage without dropping a set.

“I feel great,” Jovic said after the match. “I’m really glad to get through. Obviously, the score line is favorable, but it doesn’t matter how you get it done. I just wanted to get it done, and it felt like if I let her come back a little bit, it would become a dog fight. So I just tried to keep it as far away as possible, and I’m just so happy to be in the quarterfinals.”

There, she’ll face World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka for the first time at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level, a challenge she’s choosing to embrace.

“I’m just going to try to keep taking care of my side of the net,” Jovic said. “Obviously she’s number one for a reason and has had so much success at this tournament, but that’s what I want.

“I said it last year. I hope to be able to play her this year, because you definitely want to play the best and see how it goes. So I’m just really excited.”

That confidence was on full display against Putintseva.

Jovic showed only a hint of nerves in the opening game, falling behind a couple of break points. She responded with four straight points to hold for 1-0 and was off to the races.

It’s difficult to single out one part of her game, given how complete the performance was, but her ability to find winners, especially on return, stood out. Up triple break point in the fourth game, she followed a Putintseva save with a timely backhand winner to break for 4-0.

She added another backhand winner to hold to love in the next game, then secured a third break to wrap up the opening set in just 25 minutes.

The second set followed a similar script. Jovic kept producing winners, her serve remained rock solid -- landing 71% of first serves and winning 67% of those points, along with 73% of second-serve points -- and Putintseva’s frustration grew, punctuated by a subtle racket toss.

Perhaps coincidentally, Putintseva broke Jovic for the first time after that to finally get on the board at 4-1 in the second set, but the momentum shift was brief. Jovic broke right back and served out the match, which stands as the quickest of the Australian Open so far.

With the win, Jovic has now reached the “Final 8,” as she wrote on the camera lens after the match. She has reached this stage in all three tournaments to open her 2026 season, becoming the youngest player to do so since Maria Sharapova in 2005.