{"id":66912,"date":"2026-09-06T08:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T08:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/66912\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T08:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T08:03:10","slug":"iva-jovic-ends-alex-ealas-us-open-to-set-up-a-matchup-against-fellow-american-coco-gauff-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/66912\/","title":{"rendered":"Iva Jovic ends Alex Eala’s US Open to set up a matchup against fellow American Coco Gauff"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Iva Jovic<\/a> needed more than three hours to end Alex Eala’s run at the U.S. Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coco Gauff<\/a> is up next, with a spot in the quarterfinals at stake.<\/p>\n

Jovic beat Eala 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 in a three-hour, three-set, back-and-forth showcase of two of tennis\u2019 emerging young stars inside Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat felt like a marathon, and I felt like I lost my sanity five times over to win that match,\u201d Jovic said. \u201cBut it\u2019s really worth it for this feeling. I\u2019m usually not one that shows that many emotions, but this one really meant a lot to me. It\u2019s everything to have another match here at the U.S. Open<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old American acknowledged the crowd not always being on her side against Eala, a fan favorite from the Philippines, whose fervent following has become one of the biggest storylines in the sport. But she rallied from down 4-2 in the third set and got a hearty ovation after finishing it off and falling to the court.<\/p>\n

Jovic has made another deep run at a Grand Slam after reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon and the French Open and making the quarterfinals at the Australian Open. She lost to Jessica Pegula<\/a> in London, Naomi Osaka<\/a> in Paris and Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Now, she and Gauff are among the five U.S. women’s players left, along with Pegula, Taylor Townsend<\/a> and Emma Navarro<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, there\u2019s a lot of pressure here as an American trying to do well,\u201d Gauff said after beating Cristina Bucsa<\/a> earlier Saturday. \u201cEverybody wants to win this tournament, but I think for Americans it\u2019s even more special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gauff is just 22 but is four victories away from her second U.S. Open title, three years since winning her first. Also the French Open champion last year, she is in her prime at a time when more rivals around her age like Jovic and Eala are coming to the forefront.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just feels good socially having people I can text if you want to hang out, go to dinner, do something and it not feel awkward,\u201d said Gauff, who felt lonely in her early years when she was the youngest player around. \u201cI feel much happier now, I think, at this phase on tour just having people around my age being successful. We can all share the ups and downs together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gauff facing Jovic on Monday guarantees at least one American among the final eight players. Jovic hopes she can bring her best with the spotlight even brighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to be more than happy to just bring this fight and this energy, and whatever happens, then I can leave with my head high,\u201d Jovic said. \u201cShe\u2019s playing some unbelievable tennis and a really great person, so it\u2019s going to be an amazing match.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See AP\u2019s full tennis coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Iva Jovic needed more than three hours to end Alex Eala’s run at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[217,20300,21787,185,5227,694,3038,183,270,859,282],"class_list":["post-66912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jessica-pegula","tag-aryna-sabalenka","tag-atp-australian-open-01-12-2026","tag-atp-us-open-08-18-2026","tag-coco-gauff","tag-cristina-bucsa","tag-emma-navarro","tag-iva-jovic","tag-jessica-pegula","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-taylor-townsend","tag-wta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}