Teen queens crowned: Iva Jovic, Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah claim first WTA titles

Two teeange dreams were realized this week on the WTA tour. American Iva Jovic, 17, and French 19-year-old Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah won the first tour-level singles titles of their respective careers at the WTA 500 in Guadalajara and the WTA 250 in Sao Paulo.

In two finals that assured first-time champions no matter the result, Jovic topped Colombia's Emiliana Arango 6-4, 6-1, while Rakotomanga Rajaonah defeated Indonesia's Janice Tjen 6-4, 6-3.

Tjen was the first player from her country to reach a WTA singles final since 2002.

The two youngsters, both of whom were unseeded at their events, took advantage of wide-open draws the week after the US Open. The Guadalajara Open Akron lost No. 1 and No. 2 seeds Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudermetova in the second round, while the SP Open's top seed was world No. 27 Beatriz Haddad Maia. Though six of the eight seeds reached the quarterfinals in Sao Paulo, only two reached the semis: No. 5 Renata Zarazua, beaten by Rakotomanga Rajaonah, and No. 8 Francesca Jones, beaten by Tjen.

Additionally, both victorious players saved match points in previous rounds before even reaching the final.

In her first-round match against Mexico's Ana Sofia Sanchez, Rakotomanga Rajaonah rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the final set, and saved three match points. Jovic, meanwhile, denied Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra a match point in a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6) quarterfinal.

The youngest American to win a tour singles title since Coco Gauff triumphed on clay in Parma four years ago, Jovic's win also makes her the youngest winner of any WTA singles title this year at 17 years, 283 days old; she supplants Mirra Andreeva, who won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February at 17 years, 299 days old.

Rakotomanga Rajaonah is the first French player to win a tour-level title on hard courts since Caroline Garcia won the 2022 year-end WTA Finals, and the youngest French player to win a tour title since Oceane Dodin in 2016.

The wins also assure both players of ranking-related milestones. Already the youngest player inside the Top 100, Jovic will break the Top 50 on Monday. While Rakotomanga Rajaonah will fall short of a Top 100 debut, she will cut more than 80 places off her position to a new career high and crack the Top 150.