A tearful Taylor Townsend suffered a heartbreaking fourth-round loss at the US Open after Barbora Krejcikova astonishingly saved eight match points.
Townsend’s dramatic week has been one of the stories of the tournament so far, with the American becoming headline news after her second-round opponent Jelena Ostapenko confronted her courtside and accused her of having “no education” and “no class”.
A storm ensued over whether the comments were racist – Ostapenko insisted they were not and later apologised – and Townsend used the incident as inspiration to claim one of her biggest career wins over fifth seed Mirra Andreeva.
With her four-year-old son AJ in the crowd on Sunday, Townsend looked set to reach a singles grand slam quarter-final for the first time but former Wimbledon champion Krejcikova somehow prevailed in a titanic second-set tie-break before clinching a 1-6 7-6 (13) 6-3 victory.
Townsend, who still has a chance in doubles, left the court in tears with a towel over her face to cheers from the packed stands on Louis Armstrong Stadium who had roared her on.
“To be honest, I’m totally enjoying this crowd. Even though it’s not for me, it’s for the Americans, it’s fine,” Krejcikova said. “I’m looking forward to seeing you again in my next match – I think against another American.”
Townsend dominated the opening set and looked poised to win the second as well, with Krejcikova saving her first match point in the 10th game.
It was the tiebreak that really saw the 29-year-old pull off her Houdini act, though, Krejcikova saving her best for when it really mattered to fight off seven more match points, recovering from 3-6 before taking her third set point.
The Czech then took an off-court break, leaving Townsend sat on her chair wondering what might have been, and it was Krejcikova who had the momentum in the deciding set.
She next faces another American in fourth seed Jessica Pegula, who lost in the final last year and breezed through to the last eight again with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Ann Li. Pegula hasn’t dropped a set this year at Flushing Meadows, and only once has she been kept on court for more than 75 minutes.
“Probably the best match, honestly, I’ve played since, like, before Wimbledon I feel like from the start to finish. So that was encouraging,” Pegula said. “I was just hitting the ball, doing everything well, executing my strategy very well and got through it pretty quick.”
