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Days after becoming the tournament’s pantomime villain, Putintseva went from “crumping” to crumbling under the pressure of Jovic’s aggressive forehands, which contributed to 15 forced errors.
After defeating Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sonmez in front of a hostile crowd on Friday, Putintseva celebrated by cupping her ear to the crowd, blowing kisses, and performing a dance on the court to the spectators’ jeers. But on Sunday Jovic’s control didn’t allow for any drama, and the biggest cheer came after the fifth game of the second set when Putintseva finally broke through to hit the scoreboard.
“I’m really glad to get through,” Jovic said. “Obviously, the scoreline is favourable, but it doesn’t matter how you get it done. I just wanted to get it done, and I felt like if I let her come back a little bit, it would become a dogfight. So, I just tried to keep it as far away as possible and [I’m] just so happy to be in the finals.”
Jovic’s next opponent, Sabalenka, had a tricky but straight sets victory over Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko.
Sabalenka blitzed through the first set 6-1 and looked likely to have the match wrapped-up within an hour, after taking a 4-1 lead in the second set.
But Mboko came back firing, and saved three match points when Sabalenka was serving for the match to send the second set to a tie-break.
The roar of victory from Aryna Sabalenka.Credit: Eddie Jim
Unfortunately for Mboko, Sabalenka had won 19 consecutive tie-breaks in grand slam matches, starting back at Roland-Garros in 2023, and stormed home to win the second set 7-6 (7-1).
“What an incredible player for such a young age. It’s incredible to see these kids coming up on tour,” she said.
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“I can’t believe I say that, I feel like I’m a kid still. Incredible player, pushed me really hard today. Super happy with the win, once again in straight sets, she played incredible tennis, she pushed me so much, and happy to be through.”
Speaking on her incredible tie-break record – now 20 in a row at grand slam level – Sabalenka said the buzz around her record put pressure on her opponents.
“I just go into the tie-breaks, I try not to think that this is a tie-break, play point-by-point, and I guess that’s the key to this consistency.”
Third seed Coco Gauff took three sets, four match points and almost two hours to overcome 18th seed Karolina Muchova to move through to the quarter-finals, celebrating with a fist pump and triumphant yell to the crowd.
After finally sealing her 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win on her fourth match point, an emotional Gauff said her fitness stood her in good stead for three-setters.
Victorious: Coco Gauff celebrates her win.Credit: Eddie Jim
“I don’t get tired yet. I’m 21. Maybe that’s why,” Gauff said.
The American will play the winner of eighth-seeded Russian Mirra Andreeva and 12th seed Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, whose round four clash will close Sunday night’s play.
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