Rising WTA Tour starlet Iva Jovic bags maiden singles trophy in Mexico

Aged only 17, Jovic reached her maiden top-level final when she defeated fellow teenager Nikola Bartunkova in the semi-final and then beat Colombian Emiliana Arango in the final to capture the Guadalajara Open title.

The teenager is the youngest player to win a WTA title this year as she edges Mirra Andreeva by 16 days while she is also the youngest American to lift a trophy since a 15-year-old Coco Gauff won the Linz Open in 2004.

Jovic was full of praise for runner-up Arango, who at the age of 24 also played in her first-ever final, saying: "You showed so much fight and gave the people a show. It's not easy to start out on tour when you're young but people like Emiliana make it easier and always have a smile on their face."

Both players were rewarded with big surges in the WTA Rankings and earned handsome cheques at the WTA 500 event.

Jovic was at No 73 before hitting a ball at the Guadalajara tournament, but she has jumped 37 places to a new career-high No 36.

The 17-year-old, who beat eighth seed Camila Osorio in the second round and then saved a match point against Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva in the quarter-final, added 499 points to her tally for a total of 1,413.

Arango started her run in Mexico at No 85 - 10 places below her previous best of 76 - and she collected 323 points to move to No 53 to become the new Colombian No 1.

She upset fifth seed Magda Linette in the first round and overcame the unseeded Elsa Jacquemot in the semi-final for her maiden final.

Jovic, meanwhile, is the seventh-highest American in the rankings while she is the youngest player in the top 100.

Jovic secured her biggest payday with her title run as she was handed a winner's cheque of $164,000.

With that, the American broke through the $1m prize mark for career earnings as she now sits on $1,028,278 with her 2025 earnings $826,978.

Arango picked up $101,000 for finishing runner-up to take her 2025 tally to $679,355 for a career total of $1,249,670.

Jovic will next be in action at the WTA 1000 China Open - which gets underway on September 24 - as she has earned a direct entry following Danielle Collins' withdrawal.

Arango is not on the entry list yet as her ranking was not good enough for a direct entry, but there could still be more withdrawals or she could enter qualifying.

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