Looking to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her singles career, Taylor Townsend fell just short.
The 29-year-old American lost her way in a 6-1, 6-7 (13), 3-6 defeat at the hands of Czechia’s Barbora Krejcikova on Sunday evening, blowing a one-set lead and eight total match points inside a jam-packed Louis Armstrong Stadium.
A riveting three-hour, four-minute clash concluded with Townsend pulling her hat over her teary eyes.
She later agreed with the notion that this was the toughest singles loss of her career.
Krejcikova now will face another American in Jessica Pegula on Tuesday.
“I’m exactly where I need to be, that’s it,” Townsend said of what she’s learned from this singles run. “I’m playing the tennis that I need to play to be inside the top 20, top 10, to win a Grand Slam. She’s a two-time Grand Slam champion. I’ve beaten a Grand Slam champion this tournament. So I have everything that I need.
“It’s just about now, just keep getting the reps and keep putting myself in these types of positions. This hurts, but it’s part of competition.”
After a postmatch exchange with second-round opponent Jelena Ostapenko, in which the Latvian hurled insults across the net, Townsend quickly became the player of the tournament.
She’s had the U.S. Open crowd behind her in a different way than the American players usually do, and Sunday was no different.
The class she displayed earned her many new supporters, who had nearly every single seat filled in Louis Armstrong Stadium.
And, boy, did they get a show.
Townsend needed just 28 minutes to take the first set, in which the world No. 139 hit 93 percent of her first serves in.
There was zero doubt in her play at first, but it steadily crept in as the second set progressed.
It wasn’t until the first game of the second set that Townsend committed her first double-fault of the match.
There was simply much more pushback from Krejcikova in the second set, but it came down to the very end.
As “Here we go, Taylor!” chants and claps soared out of the open roof of Louis Armstrong, Krejcikova broke Townsend to go up 6-5. Townsend responded with a break of her own to force a tiebreaker, in which Krejcikova saved seven match points — including three in a row — before taking the set.
“I was holding my breath, just like you guys,” Townsend said with a smile. “It was intense for sure. But, I mean, it was high-level tennis. I can’t get mad. Fractions of a centimeter, of an inch. The backhand down the line on the match point, where I barely clipped the line. You know, like, what do you do?”
It was clear Townsend started to run out of gas in the third set.
The fire had subsided and the execution wavered.
Krejcikova jumped out to a 4-2 lead before Townsend broke her in the seventh game, which led to Townsend letting out an emphatic yell in celebration.
Capitalizing on her third breakpoint, Krejcikova took a 5-3 advantage and ground out the final game to victory.
“We still got a lot of tennis to play,” Townsend said, referencing her doubles run with partner Katerina Siniakova that will resume Monday. “I’m here for the doubles, and so never know what type of catalyst or catapult that this match will propel me forward. I truly believe that this whole tournament has been a game-changer for me. More than anything — I don’t feel — I know that I’m exactly where I need to be in order to fulfill every goal I have as a tennis player.”
