Sawt Falasteen - Teenager Jovic dumps seventh seed Paolini out of Australian Open

The 18-year-old was undaunted against the Italian, storming home 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) to make the last 16 at a major for the first time.

She will play Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva for a place in the quarter-finals.

"It feels amazing," said Jovic of beating a top-10 player for the first time.

"I've been wanting this one for a while now and working really hard for it. I had a couple of tough losses and I'm just so happy to get through that barrier and get the win today."

Jovic, who this time last year was ranked 191, claimed her maiden title in 2025 at Guadalajara aged just 17 and started the year in sizzling form, making the semi-finals in Auckland and the final at Hobart.

The 29th seed was a firm underdog against a player who scored back-to-back runner-up finishes at the French Open and Wimbledon in 2024.

But she blazed through the first set, wrapping it up with a scorching backhand winner down the line.

She was similarly in control of set two in front of a full house at John Cain Arena, but blinked when serving for the match at 5-4 and was broken.

Paolini was unable to capitalise as Jovic came storming back, breaking to lead 6-5, but she once again failed to hold serve and the set went to a tense tiebreak where she showed nerves of steel.

"I just tried to focus on what I was doing earlier in the match, being really aggressive and controlling the play," she said of her tiebreak tactics. "I just told myself to go out swinging."

Her victory followed fellow teenager, Czech qualifier Nikola Bartunkova, upsetting Swiss 10th seed Belinda Bencic on Thursday.

S.Abdullah--SF-PST