The teens did alright leading up to AO 2026, now didn’t they?
Mirra Andreeva beat pal Victoria Mboko in the Adelaide International final on Saturday, while Iva Jovic made the finale in Hobart.
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It marked the first time since October 2008 that three teens played in WTA finals on the same day (Caroline Wozniacki, Sabine Lisicki and the still active Sorana Cirstea).
All three posted considerable gains in 2025, which warrants a closer look.
Mirra Andreeva
No wonder Andreeva has drawn comparisons to Martina Hingis. Hingis’ on-court intelligence and change of pace caught the eye, traits Andreeva shares even if the Swiss has few equals.
But what the 18-year-old additionally possesses is power, a virtual necessity on tour these days.
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Andreeva’s progress has been phenomenal, finishing inside the top 20 in 2024, then top 10 in 2025.
When Andreeva landed titles in Dubai and Indian Wells in 2025, she became the youngest woman to win back-to-back WTA 1000 events (or what is now known as WTA 1000s) since … Hingis in 1997.
A place at the WTA Finals seemed a certainty, but a three-match losing streak on the Asian swing late last year scuppered her chances.
Showing some stress on court in Asia, her team decided not to enter her in Tokyo and chase points to get to the Finals. Her season thus ended.
Her mindset has shifted in 2026.
“I do put some pressure on myself sometimes, but now I have also learned that if I try to just give my best in every match that I play and at the same time enjoy the moment, then … I will just play and see what the life will bring to me, and I'm not gonna put so much pressure on myself thinking that I have to win a Grand Slam to be a successful player,” she said at the Brisbane International this month.
“So I kind of decided to think like that this year, and see where that brings me.”
Andreeva – in what is now a ritual every time she wins a title – thanked herself during the trophy ceremony in Adelaide. “I stole it from Snoop Dogg,” she later told reporters.
An artist herself, Andreeva starts her AO 2026 against Donna Vekic in a Monday first-round blockbuster.
The junior runner-up in 2023, Andreeva exited to Grand Slam winners Aryna Sabalenka and Barbora Krejcikova in the fourth round in the past two years at Melbourne Park.
Victoria Mboko
As one Canadian departed the tennis scene at the WTA 1000 in Montreal last August – 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard – Mboko arrived with a bang.
Beating the likes of Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Naomi Osaka, Mboko handled just about every style thrown at her on the way to the crown.
Indeed, the US-born 19-year-old can counter-punch with the best of them, or thump down serves as part of an attacking game.
Gauff has praised Mboko more than once. Prior to their tussle in Canada, she needed three sets to fend off a then-ranked 156th Mboko at the Rome Masters.
“For sure on the movement, I would say she's up there with me on that,” the two-time Grand Slam winner, who knows a thing or two about athleticism, said.
In Canada, Gauff added, “I do see someone who is going to have a really bright future.”
Mboko added to her trophy haul in Hong Kong in November and with her showing in Adelaide, got off to a fine start in 2026. But as the level-headed teenager knows, this season marks her first full campaign at the highest level.
Opponents will dissect her game further as, dually, expectations from onlookers rise. Not that the latter particularly worries her.
“If you're going to do well you're going to have expectations, so it's a positive thing at the end of the day,” Mboko said in Adelaide.
“I don't want to take it in a way where you have to win or ‘you have to do this,’ but you just want to always improve each day.
“I feel like I'm at the very beginning of my career, so I don't want to set these unrealistic standards for myself. But of course I want to do well for myself.”
Mboko meets another teen – 17-year-old Gold Coast native Emerson Jones – in the first round in her Australian Open debut on Monday. How will she handle the quick turnaround?
Iva Jovic
Jovic couldn’t quite make it four straight US winners in Hobart over the weekend, falling short in the final against Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
Coupled, though, with a semifinal in Auckland, the 18-year-old is set to compete at AO 2026 with a new career high ranking (No.27).
A former top two junior like Andreeva – who reached No.1 – Jovic became the youngest American woman to hoist a trophy since Gauff in Parma in 2021 when she went all the way at the 500-level Guadalajara Open last September.
Adept at using her opponents’ pace, Jovic has shown she’s a player for all surfaces, winning professional titles on hard, grass and clay in 2025.
Still looking for a maiden top 20 victory, Jovic could land seventh seed Jasmine Paolini in the third round if they both keep winning. But first, a clash with fellow American Katie Volynets – who upset then No.9 Veronika Kudermetova in the first round in 2023 – awaits on Monday.
Paolini bettered Jovic 6-3 6-3 when they met in the second round of last year’s US Open – which prompted a 10pm trip to the practice courts.
Jovic, who has ties to Serbia, admires Novak Djokovic and met the 24-time Grand Slam winner.
“He’s very kind, very nice,” Jovic told CLAY last October. “I was a little shocked. It’s still strange for me that I know him. He follows me now, and of course I’ve followed him my whole life.”
Did you know? The last time two teens appeared in the top 10 in the WTA rankings came in July 2009 (Victoria Azarenka, Wozniacki). The last time two teens met in an Australian Open final came in 1999, when Hingis beat Amelie Mauresmo.