Southern California teen Iva Jovic came with acclaim to this year’s USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championships as a doubles champion at this year’s Australia Junior Open and the Wimbledon Girls tourney.
Now add a milestone singles title for the third-seeded Jovic, 16, of Torrance. She topped No. 5. Valerie Glozman, of Bellevue, Wash., 7-6 (8), 6-3, at the Barnes Center on Sunday in a match of players coming off upset victories in the semifinals.
The triumph brings the reward of a wild-card berth in the main draw of this year’s U.S. Open with a first-round prize of $100,000.
“I’m so excited,” Jovic said. “I didn’t expect it to make this far in the tournament. To know that I’ll be playing in the U.S. Open is just incredible.”
Then, too, Jovic added to the doubles accomplishments by again teaming as the top seed with partner Tyra Caterina Grant, of Miami Beach, Fla., to prevail 6-2, 6-0 over No. 7 Victoria Osuigwe, of Brandenton, Fla, and Myra Iyenger, of Paradise Valley, Ariz.
The singles final opened with an endurance test as the first set lasted 1 hour, 13 minutes before concluding in the extended tiebreaker on the third set point. Overall, the match took 2:11.
“In the second set, I was just thinking about what a long week it has been, and I was getting really tired,” said Jovic, who missed the tourney last year with a right foot injury that sidelined her for six months. “So I had to use my energy and get really focused so that I didn’t have to a play another set.”
To conclude the match, Jovic took the last three games and then just dropped her racket in celebration following the winning point on unforced error. With the win, Jovic also avenged a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 setback to Glozman earlier this year in their only other encounter.
The match began with Jovic jumping to a 4-1 lead while largely dictating court movement with her precise shots. Yet Glozman adjusted to pull even 4-4.
“When I went out, I was playing a title too conservatively, and she was able to run me around, and I was feeling it already in my legs,” said Glozman, 17, who also advanced to finals two years ago, and the semifinals last summer. “I knew I had to more aggressive, so I stepped it up.”
With a 5-4 lead, Jovic used the first of her three aces to establish a set point, but then she double-faulted and eventually lost the game. In the tiebreaker, a let shot fell to give Glozman a set point at 6-5, but Jovic then won the next three points.
The Stanford-bound Glozman received a wild-card berth in the U.S. Open qualifying draw to mark her third straight year heading to New York for the tournament.
Jovic became the second player in four years to win both singles and doubles titles. Ashlyn Krueger, of Lewisville, Texas, who accomplished the feat in 2021, is now ranked 82nd in the WTA with $1,248,835 in career winnings entering last week.
In the singles semifinals, Jovic ousted defending champion and top-seeded Clervie Ngounoue, of Orlando, Fla., 6-1, 6-2. Ngounoue was seeking to become the first repeat winner since 1999.
Thien is a freelance writer.
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