2026 Australian Open: 18-year-old rising star Jovic dominates Putintseva, reaching her first Grand Slam quarterfinal!

The fourth round of the 2026 Australian Open singles began today, and 18-year-old American sensation Jovic advanced further in her Melbourne breakthrough journey. She swept Putintseva 6-0, 6-1 in just 53 minutes, making her first Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance with a flawless set. She will face world No.1 Sabalenka in the quarterfinals.

This marks only Jovic’s sixth main draw Grand Slam appearance in her career and her first time competing as a seeded player at a major. She defeated compatriot Voronets and local wildcard Han Tianyu in the first two rounds, then caused an upset by beating seventh seed Paolini in the third round, earning her first career top-10 victory and the tournament’s biggest upset so far. Facing the tough Putintseva in the fourth round, she won convincingly while dropping only one game, becoming the youngest American woman to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals since Serena Williams in 1998.

As the youngest player currently ranked in the WTA top 100, Jovic represents the United States but has deep Eastern European roots—her father is Serbian and her mother Croatian. Her idol is Novak Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam champion also from the Balkans. Jovic is one of the most rapidly rising young players in women’s tennis in the 2025 season; a year ago, she was ranked only No.191 worldwide. She won her first WTA title last September at the Guadalajara tournament and has maintained strong form entering 2026, reaching the semifinals in Auckland and the final in Hobart. Later today, she will team up with fellow young Canadian star Mboko in the women’s doubles against the Zhang/Mertens pair.

The American rising star, who uses the eighth-generation VCORE 100 racket, will face Sabalenka for the first time in the quarterfinals. She said, “I will focus on playing my own game. She is world No.1 for a reason and has had great success at the Australian Open, but that’s exactly the challenge I’m looking forward to. I said last year that I hoped to get the chance to play her this year because you want to compete against the best and see how it goes. I’m really excited.”

(Text and editing by Wang Fei, photos by Li Jianyi)