American Teenager Townsend Turning Heads at French Open
While the biggest surprise on the women’s side of the French Open up to this point was Serena William’s second-round exit yesterday, 18-year old American Taylor Townsend has caught a number of people by surprise.
Townsend defeated France’s Alize Conert on Wednesday to move into the third round at Roland Garros, an already remarkable run for a girl who earned a wild card berth into the tournament just weeks before it started and who has yet to graduate from high school.
She knocked off the hometown Frenchwoman Conert 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and is the youngest American to reach the third-round of the French Open since 2003.
“These are the moments, these are the things, that any young professional athlete is working for,” said Townsend after the match.
The teenager is the youngest and lowest-ranked player still playing, and draws a matchup with 14th seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez-Navarro for a spot in the fourth round. Suarez-Navarro knocked off Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 on Wednesday.
Townsend’s fellow American and 15th seeded Sloane Stephens easily beat Polona Hercog of Slovenia to power into the third round on Thursday. Stephens lost just four games on her way to the 6-1, 6-3 victory, smashing 23 winners and converting five break points as she cruised past Hercog.
After winning nine of the first 10 games of the match, Stephens allowed Hercog to get to 3-2 in the second set, but used a powerful serve to run away from the Slovenian.
“She played some pretty solid games,” Stephens told ESPN’s Pam Shriver after the match. “I was happy with the way I stayed focused and was able to pull it out.”
Stephens will next face Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova, the 22nd seed in the draw. Makarova will look to knock out Americans in back to back rounds following her victory over Coco Vandeweghe on Thursday.
Jelena Jankovic cruised into the third round on Thursday, as well, knocking off Japan’s Kurumi Nara 7-5, 6-0 as the two battled for the third straight Grand Slam.
The 6th seeded Serbian looks like a serious contender to come out of her draw now that after the second-seeded Li Na was bounced on Tuesday. She used a powerful serve, converting 26 of 36 of her first serves into points, to knock off Nara, who is the number one Japanese player.
“My balls were going really, really short, so she took advantage of that,” said Jankovic. “I did not break her until that game at five-all. Then I started playing a little more aggressively in the second set and it made a difference.”
Awaiting Jankovic in the next round is 26th seeded Russian Sorana Cirstea who beat Brazil’s Teliana Pereira.
Also advancing on Thursday was 10th seeded Italian Sara Errani, who knocked off Germany’s Dinah Pfizenmaier in straight sets. Former French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova advanced by beating Italy’s Camila Giorgi while 23rd seeded Lucie Safarova took down Australia’s Casey Dellacqua 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.
