Tennis
Jovic Beats Paolini Again to Reach Ningbo Quarterfinals
American reaches her seventh tour quarterfinal of 2026.
Iva Jovic defeated Jasmine Paolini 6–4, 6–3 on Thursday to reach the Ningbo Open quarterfinals, recording her second consecutive victory over the Italian.
The fourth-seeded American recovered from a 3–1 deficit in the opening set and broke twice to take it. She then built a 4–1 lead in the second before Paolini pulled back to 4–3, the WTA reported.
Jovic held serve and broke again to finish the match in one hour, 22 minutes. The result leveled their head-to-head record at 2–2 after Jovic also won their Australian Open third-round meeting this season.
The teenager has reached seven tour-level quarterfinals in 2026. She advanced to the semifinals in five of her previous six appearances at that stage.
Thursday’s victory was Jovic’s 42nd tour-level win of the season and her 28th on hard courts. It was also her 20th career victory against a player ranked inside the Top 50 in world rankings.
