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Sports · US Open 2026 · Women's Singles · Round of 64
Iva Jovic vs Francesca Jones — 6-4 6-4
 Iva Jovic✓ | 6 | 6 |
 Francesca Jones | 4 | 4 |
Final · Thursday, September 3, 2026 · Round of 64
Result
Jovic took a double break for 3-0 and could not shake Jones off. She led 4-1 in the second and was pegged back again, and Jones saved three match points on her own serve before the 18-year-old fourteenth seed served it out. Jovic converted four of fourteen break points, which is the number that explains why a 6-4 6-4 took an hour and 54 minutes; she hit 21 winners to nine and won 75 points to 62. It was played in around 30°C and heavy humidity, both players going to the back of the court between points to dry their hands. Jones, a qualifier, had beaten Magda Linette over two rain-split days for her first US Open main-draw win and her first second round here; her defeat ended British singles interest in a tournament that began with nine Britons in the main draws, the most since 1981. Jovic reached the quarter-finals in Melbourne and the fourth round at Wimbledon this season. Next: Alexandra Eala, a close friend she has beaten twice this year.
Iva JovicRows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.
At this Stage
The Round of 64 halves the draw again: 32 women's matches across Wednesday and Thursday, every one of them between players who have already won here this week. The seeds who came through the opening round now meet opponents with form behind them rather than a ranking.
Round of 128
Round of 64
What we know now
Court: Stadium 17
Match length: 1:54
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
What I said beforehand
The preview, frozen before the first serve. Clearly dated, never rewritten — that's the deal that makes the pick worth anything.
Jovic is 18, seeded 14th, the youngest player in the world's top 40, and playing on the court she grew up watching. Her opening round was the ugliest of her week and she still won it: down 0-3 to Magdalena Frech on a Grandstand running four hours late, back to 4-3, then a slip in the drizzle, a rejected request to replay the point, and an abandonment at 4-4 that put her back out there twenty-two hours later. She came back harder and won 7-5 6-3. Jones is 25, a qualifier ranked 104th, and had an even longer Tuesday: she and Magda Linette started after 9pm, came back on Wednesday, were driven off again, waited 100 minutes and finished 6-4 1-6 6-3 dead level on points, 75-75. She converted all four break points she made. It is her first US Open second round. On form and on ranking this should be straightforward, and the Elo tables agree by more than 200 points; what is not straightforward is that Jovic has now played two matches in two days and is 18.
The case for Iva Jovic
79% to winJovic is the seed, 90 ranking places higher, and she has already shown this week that she plays better after a delay than before one — she came back from an overnight suspension a visibly different player. She is 31-19 for the season, 32-21 on hard courts, and the only 18-year-old in the top 40 of the women's game. Jones has won seven matches on tour all year.
The case for Francesca Jones
21% to winJones has just won three qualifying matches and a two-day first round without losing her nerve in any of them, and she is 26-22 on hard courts for her career against an opponent playing her fourth professional season. She converted every break point she made against Linette. Jovic is 18, has played through two suspended matches in three days, and this is the round where her tournament ended last year.
Both cases written 2026-09-02, before the first ball — frozen into the record exactly as written, whatever the result. The percentages are mine — opinions with a percent sign on. They add to 100 because tennis has no draw to hide the rounding in.
My locked pick: Iva Jovic to advance ✓ RIGHT
“Ninety ranking places and an Elo gap of more than 200; Jones's route has been remarkable and her season record is 7-13.”
Locked 2026-09-02 23:55 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Iva JovicFrancesca JonesPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-08-28.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-09-02.
Storylines
- Jones is a qualifier: three qualifying wins, then a two-day first round over Magda Linette that finished level on points, 75-75.
- Jovic came back from an overnight suspension at 4-4 to beat Magdalena Frech 7-5 6-3.
- Jovic is 18 and the youngest player in the world's top 40; this is her second US Open.
- It is Jones's first US Open second round.
- They have never played each other.
Head to head
They have never met.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-09-02.
Court & schedule: Stadium 17, Thursday 3 September. The US Open posts each day's order of play the evening before; this one is on the board. (Official US Open order of play, as of 2026-09-02)
Weather: Sunday — the men's final, and the last match of the fortnight — is 78°F with showers and thunderstorms 95% likely, the wettest day of the two weeks and the one day that cannot be pushed back. Ashe closes its roof and plays on. It clears overnight: 20% Sunday night, 20% Monday, then dry and sunny from Tuesday. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-09-13)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.