U.S. Open Day Four Recap: Townsend Overcomes Ostapenko In Intense Second Round Showdown
She’s the number one ranked doubles player in the world, but American Taylor Townsend is thriving on the singles court.
Townsend defeated 25th seed Latvian and former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 7-5, 6-1 in a fiery match that, when it ended, had the two players face-to-face in a heated discussion.
“There’s never been any history. I don’t know how she feels about me, but there’s no beef on my side,” Townsend said in the post-match press conference. “She told me I have no education, no class, and to see what happens if we play each other outside of the U.S. I said, I’m excited, bring it.”
The first set was tightly contested, with Ostapenko racing out to a 3-0 advantage in the opening set. But after getting one break back, Townsend won four straight games from 3-5 down to snag the first.
Townsend carried that momentum into the second, jumping out to a 3-0 lead before Ostapenko was forced to take a medical timeout. The American made sure to stay loose around the court during the downtime, and proceeded to win the next two games after the timeout.
At 5-1, Townsend held at love to close the match, and book her spot in the third round.
“I’ve never been the one to back down from anything like that. I just thought it was really interesting. She was playing amazing in the first set and couldn’t miss,” said Townsend. “I had my head down and head in my strings, and just tried to continue to plug away.”
Up next for Townsend is the fifth-seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia. The 18-year–old beat fellow Russian Anastasia Potapova 6-1, 6-3 in her second round match on Wednesday.
Townsend’s victory was one of many for American women on Wednesday. Fourth-seed and last year’s finalist Jessica Pegula dispatched Anna Blinkova 6-1, 6-3 in just over an hour. She will take on two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka next.
The two have split their previous six matches.
“Vika is always really tough…She can go toe to toe with anybody when she’s playing really well. It’s always tough playing her. Our record has kind of been up and down whether who wins or loses. It’s going to be a tough match,” Pegula said.
A semifinalist a year ago, Emma Navarro is back into the third round after she won 6-2, 6-1 over fellow American Caty McNally. She draws Barbora Krejcikova, who notched a 6-4, 6-2 over Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima.
Ann Li upset 16th seed Belinda Bencic 6-3, 6-3 to reach the third-round at the U.S. Open for the second time in her career.
Top-seed and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka won a tight first-set tiebreaker and then pulled away in the second set to win 7-6(4), 6-2 over Russia’s Polina Kudermetova. Seventh-seed Jasmine Paolini, ninth-seed Elena Rybakina, and 19th seed Elise Mertens all won in straight sets, while former champion Emma Raducanu cruised 6-2, 6-1 over Indonesia’s Janice Tjen, and former finalist, 31st seed Leylah Fernandez, came back from a set down to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
