Youth trumps experience as Gibson, Jovic take out Osaka, Badosa in Miami
Two fast-rising young talents on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz will face off in the third round of the Miami Open after No. 18 seed Iva Jovic and Australian qualifier Talia Gibson earned high-profile wins on Saturday.
Miami: Scores | Draws | Order of play
Eighteen-year-old American Jovic surrendered just three games to defeat former World No. 2 Paula Badosa 6-2, 6-1 in her second-round match -- her first-ever main-draw win at Hard Rock Stadium -- while Gibson, who scored big wins over Ekaterina Alexandrova, Clara Tauson and Jasmine Paolini en route to the quarterfinals in Indian Wells, added a 7-5, 6-4 win over four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka to her collection of recent victories.
For Jovic, the ease of her 1 hour and 16-minute victory over Badosa helped banish some demons from the last time she was on the court. In the second round of the BNP Paribas Open, she lost to Camila Osorio 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 after having three match points in the second set.
"I think I'm still maybe not completely over it," she joked. "Matches like those are brutal. I tried to tell myself the last time I had that situation, I saved match points and won the match. So the circle of luck came back around to bite me ... I learn from it. Obviously, it was unfortunate how it happened, she played really well as well, but I just tried to think about how I can play a match in such a way so it never gets [to that point again]."
"I just focused on the basics -- serve, return and first balls. I was able to be clean with most of those things. The 30-all games, the deuce games, when you win a lot of those, then you're in good shape," she added.
Learnings were also on display for 21-year-old Gibson in her second career meeting with former World No. 1 Osaka, who was the No. 16 seed in the Miami draw. Eight months ago, she lost to Osaka in the first round at Wimbledon 6-4, 7-6(4) despite serving for the second set twice -- and in the reprise, she never lost the lead this time once she gained it.
The first 10 games between Gibson and 2022 Miami finalist Osaka went with serve -- with the only challenge by the returner coming when Osaka had two break points in Gibson's first service game. Osaka, in fact, lost just one point behind her first serve in the entire set, and served seven aces -- but let Gibson in at 5-5 by missing three first serves in the game. The Aussie duly converted on some effective returns, and Osaka dropped her serve by missing her first follow-up shot on each of the four points she lost in the game.
Gibson broke again in the first game of the second set, and never faced break point herself in five subsequent service games.
"I was able to draw on some experiences from Indian Wells to stay calm," she said afterwards. "It's been really cool to see what I'm capable of, and it's really exciting for me."
Jovic defeated Gibson on grass last summer on her way to winning the WTA 125 in Ilkley, Great Britain. The winner of their second meeting will reach the Round of 16 in her first trip to Miami.
Both players agree that they've improved significantly since then, with Gibson saying they've both "come a long way" since June.
"Where we both are right now, I think it's going to be a good battle," she said.