Taylor Townsend turned off a vertebral week in the US Open with one of the versions of her career, without 5 sperm Mirra Andreeva with 7-5, 6-2 in 76 minutes under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach the fourth round in New York for the first time since 2019.
The 29-year-old American, ranked outside the Top 100 in Singles, but world no. 1 in double, rose along the teenage quarters with fearlessly shooting and constant pressure on the net. Townsend won 21 of 29 points when she came forward, 23 winners hit and her calmness kept through a tense opening set before racing in the second way. It was her third career victory on a top 10 opponent and joined Simona Halep here in 2019 and Jessica Pegula in Rome last year.
Townsend, a former World No 1 Junior who reinvented himself as a double star, has become one of the central figures of the tournament. That is due to her second round victory over Jelena Ostapenko, after which she revealed that the Latvian her told that she had “no class” and “no education”. The comments that Ostapenko justified as a reaction to Townsend that did not apologize for a shot that hit the top of the net led to accusations of racism.
“I also want to thank everyone who has supported me for the past 48 hours,” Townsend told the crowd afterwards. “It’s bigger than me. It’s about the message, it’s about the representation, it’s about being brave and being able to appear like yourself and I did that tonight. You saw the real Taylor Townsend tonight.”
The controversy used a longer story. In 2012, the USTA Townsend asked, then the world’s best junior, to sit outside the US Open Junior event and to deny its wildcards in the main table or qualifying because of her fitness. The move, convicted by Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova and Lindsey Davenport, forced her mother to pay her way and eventually led Townsend to leave the federation’s program to work with Zina Garrison.
The fact that the same player was ever considered “not ready” for Ashe was able to return years later to dismantle one of the most announced wonder of the sport on the largest stage, said to the depth of her resilience. Already a champion Wimbledon and Australian Open Doubles next to Katerina Siniakova, Townsend proved on Friday that she still has the power to leave her mark in Singles.
For Andreeva, 18, the defeat brought an end to a season of near-metonomic consistency at the Majors, where she had reached the second week on each of the first three SLAMS of the year, including quarterfinals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The Russian, which previously claimed WTA 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells in 2025, was overwhelmed in the final phase as the confidence of Townsend grew.
This is a developing story. More to follow.
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