Bojana Jovanovski Petrović (née Jovanovski; , ; born 31 December 1991) is a Serbian former tennis player.
In her career, Jovanovski won two singles titles on the WTA Tour and one WTA 125 singles title. On 4 August 2014, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 32. On 3 November 2014, she peaked at No. 203 in the WTA doubles rankings.
Playing for Serbia Fed Cup team, she has a win–loss record of 6–11.
Early life and junior years Jovanovski began playing tennis aged seven at the Red Star Tennis Club.RTS: Budućnost srpskog tenisa – Bojana Jovanovski (28 April 2009) Aged 12, she won the Serbian national U–14 championships and was the finalist of the U–16. She turned professional in 2006 and played her first junior event at the tournament in Pančevo, Serbia, losing in straight sets to Ana Veselinović.Bojana Jovanovski at coretennis.com That year, she also lost to Simona Halep in the finals of the Heiveld Indoor Junior Championships. In 2007, Jovanovski won junior events in Città di Santa Croce, defeating Michelle Larcher de Brito, and reached the finals in Prato and Milano, losing to Romana Tabaková and Anastasia Pivovarova, respectively.
Jovanovski would play at numerous junior Grand Slam tournaments. Her best result came at Wimbledon, where she was defeated by Madison Brengle in the quarterfinals. In 2008, Jovanovski decided to pursue her professional career on the ITF Circuit, but would also play at the junior major events. She would reach the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, losing to Arantxa Rus and Laura Robson, respectively. Both Rus and Robson later won the tournaments.International Tennis Federation: Australian Open Junior Championships 2008 Girls' Singles – Main DrawInternational Tennis Federation: The Junior Championships, Wimbledon 2008 Girls' Singles – Main Draw Jovanovski's highest junior ranking was world No. 5, which she achieved on 7 April 2008.Bojana Jovanovski at the International Tennis Federation Junior Profile
Career 2006–2009: Professional debut Jovanovski made her professional debut on the ITF Circuit in 2006 in Prokuplje, Serbia where she lost to Karolina Jovanović in the second round. Two years later, she won her first ITF title at that same tournament, beating Karin Morgošová in the final.Bojana Jovanovski – Activity at the International Tennis Federation In 2008 Jovanovski reached an additional three finals, winning two of them.
She continued playing on the ITF Circuit, reaching the semifinals of three events – Belek, Sarajevo and Toruń – being defeated by Tetyana Arefyeva, Ana Jovanović, and Oksana Kalashnikova, respectively. Jovanovski played qualifications for the 2009 US Open but lost, however, to American Carly Gullickson.Bojana Jovanovski at the International Tennis FederationBlic: Bojana Jovanovski ipak bez učešća na US Openu (30 August 2008)Vesti: Bojana Jovanovski ostala bez glavnog žreba (29 August 2009) On 20 November 2009, Jovanovski reached the final of an ITF event in Pune, India but lost to Fujiwara.Sportske.net: Jovanovski stigla do finala (20 November 2009) On 29 November 2009, she reached the final of an ITF event in Toyota, Aichi but lost to the former world No. 4 Kimiko Date-Krumm.
2010: WTA Tour debut At her first ITF tournament in 2010, in Quanzhou, Jovanovski reached the semifinals, losing in three sets to fellow Serb Aleksandra Krunić. She then played in the qualification tournament for the Australian Open, but lost to Kathrin Wörle, despite having a match point in the third set.B92: Jovanovski ispala u kvalifikacijama (16 January 2010) Jovanovski was, once again, part of the Serbian Fed Cup team along with Jelena Janković, Ana Ivanovic and Ana Jovanović in the 2–3 loss against Russia in the World Group.2010 Fed Cup World Group: World Group Tie: Serbia vs. Russia, 2–3 (7 February 2010) She was then awarded with a wildcard for the main draw of Malaysian Open.Sportske.net: Jovanovska u glavnom zrebu Malezije (20 February 2010) On her WTA Tour debut, she beat Vitalia Diatchenko in straight sets. However, Jovanovski then lost to the first seed Elena Dementieva in round two.B92: Dementijeva bolja od Jovanovski (24 February 2010)
On 24 April, Jovanovski made her debut for the Serbia Fed Cup team, in the World Group Playoffs against Slovakia.Fed Cup: Slovaks claim World Group spot (25 April 2010) She lost her first singles match to Daniela Hantuchová, but then won her second rubber against Magdaléna Rybáriková.2010 Fed Cup World Group Playoffs: World Group Playoffs Tie: Serbia vs. Slovakia, 2–3 (25 April 2010) Jovanovski and Janković lost their doubles match to Hantuchová and Rybáriková for the final 3–2 scoreline for Slovakia. At the Rabat Grand Prix, her second career WTA Tour event, she defeated Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in the first round, but then lost to the fifth seed Angelique Kerber in the second. Jovanovski qualified for her third WTA Tour tournament at the Internazionali d'Italia, beating Nuria Llagostera Vives and former world No. 8, Alicia Molik,B92: Jovanovski u glavnom žrebu Rima (1 May 2010) but then lost to Yaroslava Shvedova in the first round. In May, Jovanovski took part in the Warsaw Open, beating former world No. 5, Anna Chakvetadze, to reach the main draw where she subsequently lost to Sara Errani.
Her next tournament was the French Open, where she defeated María Irigoyen in the first round of the qualifying stage, but then fell to Anastasia Pivovarova in the second. She then suffered losses in the semifinal of the ITF event in Maribor and the Eastbourne International qualifications, but managed to enter into the main draw at Wimbledon.B92: Jovanovski direktno na Vimbldon (15 June 2010) Jovanovski defeated Casey Dellacqua in the first round, but lost to eighth seed Victoria Azarenka in the second. Her result at Wimbledon helped her ranking rise to world No. 93. Jovanovski then played at the Slovenia Open but lost to compatriot and world No. 2, Jelena Janković, in the opening round. At the İstanbul Cup, she won three matches in straight sets to qualify for the main draw, but lost to Elena Vesnina in the first round. In August, Jovanovski qualified for the main draw of the first Premier 5 of the US Open Series, the Cincinnati Open.B92: Bojana u glavnom žrebu Sinsinatija (8 August 2010) She upset the 14th seed Aravane Rezaï in the first round,B92: Bojana Jovanovski savladala Rezai (9 August 2010) but lost to Akgul Amanmuradova in the following round in straight sets. Jovanovski then attempted to qualify for the Rogers Cup and the Connecticut Open, but fell to Sorana Cîrstea and Elena Vesnina, respectively. Jovanovski played her second major event at the US Open, but was defeated by Anastasia Rodionova in the first round. She also competed in women's doubles partnering with Janković, but they were defeated by Kimiko Date-Krumm and Ayumi Morita.
Jovanovski then played at the Guangzhou International Open, but lost to Alla Kudryavtseva in the first round. She also lost in the first round of the Korea Open to Kirsten Flipkens, after easily winning three qualification matches. Jovanovski was then defeated in the first round of the Pan Pacific Open qualifying by Pauline Parmentier. However, she managed to turn around the early losses by qualifying for the main draw of China Open, her first ever Premier Mandatory tournament.B92: Srpkinje uspešne u Pekingu (2 October 2010) In the opening round, she defeated a fellow qualifier, the 2009 US Open quarterfinalist Kateryna Bondarenko. She then upset good friend Janković in the second round, marking her first victory over a former world No. 1 and a top-ten player.WTA Tour: One Giant Step For Jovanovski (4 October 2010) However, she was beaten by Shahar Pe'er in the third round.WTA Tour: Shahar First Into QFs (6 October 2010) Jovanovski then participated at the ITF events in Torhout, Poitiers and Taipei, defeating players such as Sania Mirza, Rika Fujiwara and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, but without much further success. She finished the year as the youngest player in the top-100 of the WTA rankings.WTA Tour: (22 November 2010)
In December, Jovanovski played at the ITF tournament in Dubai. She defeated Julia Babilon in the first round, Petra Martić in the second, and world No. 45, Anastasija Sevastova, in the quarterfinals, then-former world No. 16, Anabel Medina Garrigues, in her semifinal, before losing to Sania Mirza in the final.International Tennis Federation: $75,000 Dubai, United Arab Emirates Printable Drawsheet (16 December 2010)B92: Jovanovski izgubila finale Dubaija (18 December 2010) A week later, in Pune, Jovanovski won her fourth ITF title, and her first since 2008, defeating Nina Bratchikova.B92: Jovanovski osvojila turnir u Puneu (25 December 2010)
2011: Breakthrough year
Jovanovski opened the season in Brisbane,B92: Počelo je, Viktor, Janko, Bojana... (1 January 2011)WTA Tour: Brisbane International – Main Draw Singles (31 December 2010) defeating Anastasia Rodionova in the first round.B92: Jovanovski uspešna na startu 2011. (2 January 2011) She then lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second.B92: Eliminisana Bojana Jovanovski (4 January 2011) The week after, Jovanovski qualified for the Sydney International.B92: Jovanovski u glavnom žrebu Sidneja (9 January 2011) She defeated Kaia Kanepi,B92: Sidnej: Jovanovski bolja od Kanepi (10 January 2011) Aravane RezaïWTA Tour: Cibulková Upsets No. 1 (11 January 2011) and Flavia Pennetta,WTA Tour: Li Edges Kuznetsova in QFs (12 January 2011) but lost her first tour semifinal to eventual champion Li Na.WTA Tour: Clijsters One Step Away From No. 2 At the Australian Open, Jovanovski defeated Chang Kai-chen in the first round but lost to the second seed Vera Zvonareva in round two.WTA Tour: 2011 Australian Open – Main Draw Singles (14 January 2011) She also played doubles partnering with Varvara Lepchenko; they lost to Kimiko Date-Krumm and Zhang Shuai. Jovanovski was the highest ranked player in the Serbia Fed Cup team for the World Group II rubber against Canada.B92: Fed kup: Srbija bez Jelene i Ane (26 January 2011) She played alongside Ana Jovanović, Aleksandra Krunić and Tamara Čurović against Rebecca Marino, Aleksandra Wozniak, Marie-Ève Pelletier and Sharon Fichman in Novi Sad.Fed Cup: Tie Details: Serbia – Slovakia (1 February 2011) She won both of her singles matches against Wozniak and Marino. In the doubles match, Jovanovski and Krunić defeated Fichman and Pelletier to guarantee Serbia a spot in the World Group Playoffs.
Jovanovski lost the first round of the Dubai Championships to world No. 26, Yanina Wickmayer.2011 Dubai Tennis Championships: Women's Singles Main Draw (13 February 2011) She qualified for the Qatar Ladies Open, but lost to Sania Mirza in the first round.2010 Qatar Ladies Open: Women's Singles Main Draw (22 February 2011) Jovanovski was the eighth seed at the Malaysian Open where she defeated Tamarine Tanasugarn and Urszula Radwańska, before losing to former world No. 4 and eventual champion, Jelena Dokic, in the quarterfinals.2011 Malaysian Open: Women's Singles Main Draw (4 March 2011) She then suffered two consecutive first–round losses, at the Indian Wells Open to Urszula Radwańska,2011 BNP Paribas Open: Women's Singles Main Draw (8 March 2011) and at the Miami Open to Monica Niculescu.2011 Sony Ericsson Open: Women's Singles Main Draw (22 March 2011) On 25 March 2011, Jovanovski was awarded with the Heart Award, given by the Fed Cup for her performances in her national colours.Fed Cup: Jovanovski wins Heart Award (25 March 2011) She then played for Serbia in a World Group Play–off rubber against Slovakia. Though she lost her singles match to Dominika Cibulková in three sets, Serbia managed to qualify for the 2012 World Group.2011 Fed Cup: Dramatic win earns Serbia promotion to World Group (17 April 2011)