Coco Gauff saves match point, clips Iva Jovic for second Rome comeback

Coco Gauff is quickly earning gladiator status at the 2026 Internazionali BNL d’Italia, the No. 3 seed pulling off a second comeback to clip Iva Jovic from match point down, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.

"I mean, honestly on that match point my head was almost, like, to the locker room, to be honest," she said in her post-match press conference. "I was like, 'Well, I'm going to hear a lot about this one.'

"Yeah, then after, I don't know, I was able to get through it. I think she maybe dropped a little bit her level when she had the lead. It was able to help me get back into the match."

The 16th-seeded Jovic was on the brink of a career-best victory when she served for the match a 5-3 in the second set, but her countrywoman would not be denied and surged into the quarterfinals after two hours and 46 minutes on Center Court.

A finalist at the Foro Italiaco in 2025, Gauff has had to battle throughout the week in Rome, roaring back from a double-break down to defeat Solana Sierra in the third round. Jovic looked to be an entirely different challenge as the in-form teenager has enjoyed a breakthrough season and a Top 20 debut after reaching her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open.

Gauff, who turned pro at 14 years of age, has long been the youthful foil to more experienced opponents, but at 22 was the veteran to Jovic’s challenger on Monday and appeared unsettled by the dynamic early in the match.

“The way people ask the questions make it seem like I'm way older than them, and I have been around longer, obviously,” Gauff conceded back in January. “But I'm, like, ‘You guys, these are, like, my peers. We are the same. We are hanging out! We're in the same age group.’”

Jovic capitalized on forehand errors from Gauff to capture the opening set and was on course for a straight-sets victory when she broke the two-time major champion for a 5-3 lead in the second. But the teenager visibly tightened from there and Gauff reeled off the next five games to level the match and open up a break lead in the decider.

Though Jovic kept things close early in the third, Gauff was ultimately able to pull away and secure her spot in the quarterfinals in just under three hours.

Awaiting her there will be No. 8 seed Mirra Andreeva, who is coming off a runner-up finish at last week’s Mutua Madrid Open.