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Iva Jovic

U.S. Billie Jean King Cup Team Falls To Belgium

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The U.S. Billie Jean King Cup team fell to Belgium, 3-1, in its Qualifying tie played Friday and Saturday on indoor red clay in Ostend, Belgium. An untimely injury to McCartney Kessler that forced her to retire while deadlocked in the third set vs. Elise Mertens and inspired performances from Hanne Vandewinkel and Greet Minnen led the Belgians to advance to the 2026 Finals in front of their home crowd inside the Coretec Dome. 

“I honestly couldn’t be prouder of the five ladies that were here,” said U.S. captain Lindsay Davenport. “We tried really hard all week to find our groove and to figure out how we were gonna play, how we’re gonna get three points. But Belgium played so well. They had a great crowd here. We had a great experience, honestly, here in the country. We just never quite got to playing our best.

The American team will next play in the Playoff round the week of November 16 with the goal of returning to the Qualifying pool for 2027. Nations competing in the home-and-away Playoffs include the seven losing nations from this weekend’s Qualifying — including Japan, Australia, Slovenia, Canada and Poland — and the seven best-performing nations from regional Group I events also being played this weekend.

The USA’s opponent and site for the November playoff will be determined via draw held Thursday, April 23, at 6 a.m. ET. 

Iva Jovic

Iva Jovic, Emilio Nava Earn USTA’s French Open Main Draw Wild Cards

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American rising stars Iva Jovic and Emilio Nava have earned singles main draw wild cards into the upcoming French Open by winning the USTA’s Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge. The USTA and FFT have a reciprocal agreement in which main draw wild cards for the 2025 French Open and US Open are exchanged.

The 17-year-old Jovic finished the five-week Challenge with 142 points, earned by winning the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Charlottesville, Va., (100 pts.) and reaching the second round at both the WTA 250 in Bogota (30 pts.) and the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Bonita Springs, Fla. (12 pts.). Jovic’s point total was enough to outlast a final-week push by former Roland Garros girls’ singles champion Whitney Osuigwe, who could have won the Challenge on its final day by winning the Bonita Springs title.

The Torrance, Calif., native Jovic has now earned wild cards into the last three Grand Slam singles main draws, after winning the USTA Girls’ 18s national championship to enter the 2024 US Open and the USTA’s Australian Open Wild Card Playoff to get into the 2025 Australian Open. She reached the second round in both of those events.

Nava won the men’s Challenge with 119 points, thanks to his performance at consecutive USTA Pro Circuit ATP Challenger events, winning the title in Sarasota, Fla., (75 pts.) and reaching the final in Tallahassee, Fla., (44 pts.) amid a 19-match win streak.

Nava previously qualified for the French Open in 2023 and competed in the US Open main draw in 2022-23, pushing Casper Ruud to four sets in the first round after qualifying the latter year.

The Challenge was contested over the last five weeks, with each player’s top three points-earning results counting toward their final Challenge point total. Only clay-court events at the M25 and W35 level and above counted toward the Challenge.

Final Women’s Standings:
(Player’s current ranking in parentheses)

  1. Iva Jovic (120) — 142
  2. Whitney Osuigwe (158) — 121
  3. Julieta Pareja (328) — 116
  4. Caty McNally (283) — 102
  5. Varvara Lepchenko (119) — 85

Final Men’s Standings:
(Player’s current ranking in parentheses)

  1. Emilio Nava (137) — 119
  2. Ethan Quinn (114) — 100
  3. Colton Smith (162) — 63
  4. Chris Eubanks (110) — 50
  5. Eliot Spizzirri (121) — 44

The USTA utilizes this Challenge format to award wild cards into the Australian, French and US Opens. Previous Americans to earn wild cards into the French Open via the Challenge and how far they advanced at Roland Garros are below, including Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul and Emma Navarro, who won the women’s Challenge in 2023 to make her Grand Slam debut outside of the U.S.

Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge Winners:

2024: Sachia Vickery (1R); Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (1R)
2023: Emma Navarro (2R); Patrick Kypson (1R)
2022: Katie Volynets (2R); Michael Mmoh (1R)
2019: Lauren Davis (2R); Tommy Paul (1R)
2018: Taylor Townsend (2R); Noah Rubin (1R)
2017: Amanda Anisimova (1R); Tennys Sandgren (1R)
2016: Taylor Townsend (2R); Bjorn Fratangelo (2R)
2015: Louisa Chirico (1R); Frances Tiafoe (1R)
2014: Taylor Townsend (3R); Robby Ginepri (1R)
2013: Shelby Rogers (2R); Alex Kuznetsov (1R)
2012: Melanie Oudin (2R); Brian Baker (2R)