Surging Aussie young gun Talia Gibson claims another huge scalp at the Miami Open
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Australia's Talia Gibson continued her remarkable rise by crushing United States star Iva Jovic 6-2, 6-2 to reach the round of 16 at the Miami Open on Monday (AEDT).
Gibson was a qualifier in Miami while Jovic was the 18th seed.
The 21-year-old from Perth has now claimed five top 20 scalps in the last three weeks.
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Talia Gibson celebrates victory over Iva Jovic. YouTube
Gibson upset Ekaterina Alexandrova (11), Clara Tauson (17) and Jasmine Paolini (7) at her previous tournament at Indian Wells before knocking over Naomi Osaka (15) and Jovic in Miami.
Gibson is ranked No.68 in the world but is up to No.56 in the live rankings.
Maya Joint (31) and Daria Kasatkina (64) are the top two Australian women's players.
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Talia Gibson of Australia returns a shot to Iva Jovic of the United States. Getty
Gibson will now play world No.3 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the round of 16.
Australian Open champion Rybakina beat Marta Kostyuk 6-3, 6-4 to set up a date with Gibson.
Gibson listed Rybakina as one of her favourite players during an interview at the AO, where she lost in the first round.
"I often find myself watching those girls play and try and learn from what they are doing," Gibson said.
"But at the same time, I'm not trying to model my game to look like anybody else's.
"I have my own game and I'm just trying to develop that in my own way."
In other Miama results, No.5 Jessica Pegula posted a 6-2, 6-2 win over No.26 Leylah Fernandez while Paolini, Alexandrova and Elina Svitolina were eliminated.
Paolini lost to No.25 Jelena Ostapenko in three sets, and Svitolina was knocked out by Hailey Baptiste in straight sets.
On the men's side, Carlos Alcaraz was eliminated in the third round, losing to Sebastian Korda in three sets.
The 22-year-old Alcaraz, who completed the career Grand Slam when he won the Australian Open in January, dropped to 17-2 this season.
The No.1 player in the men's rankings also lost to Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals at Indian Wells last weekend.
Korda served for the match at 5-4 in the second, but Alcaraz rallied by winning five consecutive games.
The 25-year-old Korda then regrouped and closed out a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory in 2 hours, 19 minutes.
At No.36, Korda became the lowest-ranked man to beat Alcaraz since No.55 David Goffin accomplished the feat in the second round in Miami last year.
Next up for Korda is the winner of 14th-seeded Karen Khachanov versus qualifier Martin Landaluce.
Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul joined Korda in the fourth round.
The sixth-seeded Fritz beat Reilly Opelka 6-3, 6-4, and No.22 seed Paul eliminated Raphael Collignon with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5) victory.
No.21 Jiri Lehecka and No.29 Tomas Martin Etcheverry also were among the winners.
- with AP
