One of the fourth round matches at the 2026 Australian Open will feature unseeded Yulia Putintseva and US teen sensation Iva Jović. Jovic has turned heads with her performances this season and has reached the fourth round of a Slam for the first time.
Meanwhile, Putintseva has already had her best result in Melbourne by reaching the fourth round, and will be looking to book her berth in the quarterfinals for the first time.
Yulia Putintseva vs Iva Jović Match Details
Date: Jan. 25, 2026 (Jan. 24 in ET)
Tournament: Australian Open 2026
Round: Fourth Round (Round of 16)
Venue: Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia
Surface: Outdoor Hard
Category: Grand Slam
Live Telecast: Tennis Channel, TSN, RDS, Sky Sports
Putintseva vs Jović Head-to-Head
This will be the first meeting between the two players on the Tour, and therefore the head-to-head stands at 0-0.
Putintseva did not have a great start to the 2026 season as she had successive second-round exits in Brisbane and Adelaide. However, at the Australian Open, the Kazakh player picked up form, starting with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first round, followed by a 6-1, 6-2 drubbing of Elsa Jacquemot in the second round. In the third round, she faced off against Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sönmez, winning 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3.
Jović was one of the most in-form players coming into Melbourne, as the teenager had a semifinal finish in Auckland and a runner-up finish in Hobart. At the Australian Open, she started with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Katie Volynets, followed by a 6-1, 6-2 win over local favorite Priscilla Hon in the second round. She faced seventh-seeded Jasmine Paolini in the third round, pulling off a massive upset, winning 6-2, 7-6 (3) against the Italian.
Putintseva vs Jović Prediction
Putintseva has won 68 percent and 39 percent of her first and second serve points, respectively, in the three matches she has played. The Kazakh has won 17 service breaks and saved 21 of the 31 break points she has faced across three matches.
On the other hand, Jović has won 69 percent of the first serve points in the three matches, which is almost similar to Putintseva’s, but where the young American stands apart from her opponent is her second serve, as she has won 63 percent of the points behind that serve.
Both players have shown mental fortitude in their campaigns. Putintseva had to face hostile crowds in her matches against Haddad Maia and Sönmez. On the other hand, Jovic showed her mettle when she was able to close out the match against Paolini in the second-set tiebreaker, despite failing to serve out the match on two occasions.
For Putintseva, she has to be aggressive on the second-serve returns against Jovic to create break-point situations. For Jović, the challenge is mental, as this will be her first fourth-round match at a Major, but other than that, it is the younger opponent who has the tools to win the upcoming match, as shown by the PFSN Simulator, which has assigned a 54 percent win probability to Jović.
Pick- Jović to win in three sets
