Coco Gauff survived another tense night at the Italian Open, saving a match point before rallying past 18-year-old American Iva Jovic 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 to reach the Rome quarterfinals for the third straight year.
The No. 3 seed looked in serious trouble on Campo Centrale after dropping the opening set and falling behind in the second. Jovic, seeded No. 16, served for the match at 5-3 and held match point, but Gauff refused to let the contest slip away. She broke back, steadied her game, and took the final four games of the second set to force a decider.
From there, the match shifted sharply. Gauff played with more margin, defended with greater discipline, and punished Jovic’s loose service games. Jovic, who had pushed the match to the edge of a major breakthrough, struggled with double faults and required treatment for a finger issue in the final set. Gauff closed out the third set 6-2 after nearly three hours on court.
It was Gauff’s second comeback win of the week in Rome, following another three-set escape against Solana Sierra earlier in the tournament. The run has not always been clean, but it has shown the kind of problem-solving and resilience that has made Gauff one of the most dangerous players on clay.
The victory sets up one of the best quarterfinals of the women’s draw: Gauff against Mirra Andreeva on Tuesday night. Andreeva advanced with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Elise Mertens, giving the Italian Open a high-profile clash between two of the sport’s most important young stars.
Gauff enters the matchup with a perfect record against Andreeva. She leads their head-to-head 4-0, including a straight-sets win in last year’s Rome quarterfinal, 6-4, 7-6(5). Their previous meetings also include wins for Gauff at Roland Garros and the US Open in 2023, and Madrid in 2025.
Still, the quarterfinal carries real danger. Andreeva has continued to mature into one of the tour’s sharpest tacticians, with the variety and patience to test Gauff’s timing from the baseline. Gauff, meanwhile, will know she cannot afford another slow start against a player who is unlikely to let a lead disappear easily.
For Gauff, the result keeps alive another deep Rome run and gives her more high-pressure clay-court tennis before Roland Garros. For Jovic, the loss will sting, but the performance was another sign that American women’s tennis has another rising player capable of troubling the top seeds.
Gauff did not dominate her way into the quarterfinals. She fought her way there. In Rome, that may prove just as important.
