CHARLESTON, SC – Iva Jovic has reached the quarterfinals in Charleston. The Lowcountry’s first-round winner eliminated fellow American and 2025 seed Sofia Kenin 7-5, 7-5 in two hours and seven minutes.
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There are now four American players on the WTA Tour powered by Mercedes-Benz — Jovic, Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys and McCartney Kessler — in the last eight in Charleston. Jovic will face Anna Kalinskaya Friday in the quarterfinals.
Despite the straight sets, it was a battle between the two Americans as Kenin saved two points in a few games before 5-4 in the second set to extend the match. After Jovic held a 6-5 lead, noticeable pain in Kenin’s right shoulder seemed to affect him, requiring a medical timeout that the American clearly won, but Jovic was undeterred by the delay and closed out the match with his fifth and final break.
“I think it was a tough game all around,” Jovic said. “There are a lot of lines from both sides of the court. He had two good match points. I could have connected better with those results, but it is what it is, and I think that after you do not get the game, it is very important to hold the serve and keep yourself there.
“So I tried to press that 5-5 game and put all my energy into it, and yes, wait for my time at 6-5, which thankfully happened.”
Otherwise, the game felt routine for Jovic at first. He hit a break first in Kenin’s first service game, amassing a three-game lead at 3-0 and 4-1 in the opening game, though that proved to be little change in the set as Kenin found his way to a 5-4 lead bolstered by two breaks. Kenin also had a chance to serve on the set, but Jovic returned the break to close out the set.
Second, it was Kenin who converted the first break, but Jovic brought it back to level at 4-4, going down to the wire. The 18-year-old Jovic broke Kenin at the right time in the match, which seemed to confuse him as he has less experience on green clay compared to his fellow players on the tour.
Finally, a sense of relief — symbolized by a wave of the racquet in the air with a shout of “C’mon” — was felt by Jovic after he reached his first quarterfinals since the Australian Open.
Keys returns to Charleston quarters
In his 13th appearance in Charleston, Keys earned his sixth appearance in the Lowcountry quarterfinals. The 2019 champion defeated Anna Bondar 6-2, 7-5, leading by five breaks of service for the Hungarian.
The Keys pressed immediately, forcing five break chances in the first game alone, using the last game to take a 3-0 lead in the group. The American did not surrender the first set, although Bondar stayed in the match in a hotly contested second set.
After a commercial break in the middle of the second set, Keys’ fifth and final break in the first game proved to be the difference as she continued in the match, winning a first-court winner — one of Keys’ highlights — in the one hour and 46 minute match.
Keys won about 70% of her first serves, and on her second serve, she won about 90% of those points. She will face Charleston’s 2022 champion Belinda Bencic with a spot in the semifinals on the line.
“Obviously it’s a tough game,” Keys said. “We went back and forth a few times, and I mean he knows how to get the ball early, and no matter how much we’re up, he always plays the way he wants to play, and I think that hurts him.
“It will be a tough game and one day I will have to try to make sure my weapons are working for me.”
Bencic agreed, and said she would rather face Keys on clay than hard because the ball moves slower, reducing Keys’ power a bit. They have exchanged each of their five meetings – Keys leads 3-2 in the head-to-head over the Swiss – and Keys won their last meeting at Indian Wells in 2025.
“Madi is a very tough opponent,” said Bencic. “He’s got a great game. But I’d rather play him here on clay than on hard, let’s say. So, yeah, I’ll definitely watch the game and game plan.”
More to come
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