Iva Jovic relives wild doubles battle with Victoria Mboko

Iva Jovic and Victoria Mboko joined forces in the women’s doubles draw at the 2026 Australian Open.

The teenage duo, aged 18 and 19, pushed Elise Mertens and Shuai Zhang all the way before narrowly losing 5-7, 6-4, 6-7 in a tightly fought battle.

Despite their efforts, Jovic and Mboko fell just short of pulling off an upset against the fourth seeds, losing the deciding tiebreak 10-12.

Looking back on the match, Jovic described it as one of the most outrageous she’s ever played. She added:

Jovic recalls the most memorable match of her career

“We played Mertens and Zhang and this was the most outrageous, not just doubles match, but tennis match in my life,” Jovic told Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula on the Player’s Box Podcast.

“I think it was three hours long. I had played singles earlier that day. We had three match points and we lost, but the quality of tennis was a joke. We were everywhere, changing sides, everything.

“I literally told Mertens and Zheng after they beat us in that match that they have to win the tournament because it was crazy. And then they went and won the tournament! So we have like a running joke now, and I am just telling them go and win now.

“At 8-8 in the tiebreak I had the most tight moment ever, but it was good.”

Mboko made it to the fourth round in singles play, while Jovic got past Jasmine Paolini en route to an appearance in the quarter-finals.

Mertens and Zhang would go on to lift the Women’s Doubles trophy at Melbourne Park later that year, taking down Anna Dalinina and Aleksandra Krunic in straight sets.

Looking back at Jovic and Mboko’s close match against Mertens and Zhang

Jovic and Mboko nearly pulled off an upset against Mertens and Zhang in what turned out to be one of the most competitive matches of the tournament.

After splitting the first two sets, the North American pairing were in full control of the match, leading 4-1 in the final set.

Mertens and Zhang then won three straight games to tie it up before edging out a 12-10 win in the tiebreaker.

Afterwards, Jovic spoke about how she and Mboko approached their doubles campaign with a relaxed attitude:

“Yeah, I mean, me and Vicky signed up for this doubles for fun. We went to the first match, and we were not sure if there was ads. So we were asking the ref, Do we play ads? What’s going on here?

“Then we realised there were ads, and I didn’t realise until today that there was a third set. So I was, like, Oh, my God, what? This is going to be three times longer than my singles match. Then it went 6 in the third.”

Despite coming up short, Jovic had nothing but praise for how both teams played:

“But at that point I was like all right. I don’t know if you guys saw it but one of the most unbelievable doubles matches I’ve ever played. It was outrageous. The crowd was going crazy. There were so many long points.

“So it’s weird to be talking about singles right now. After playing that my mind is on doubles but it was fun.”

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