Article by Luminița Paul – Published on Sunday, 01 March 2026, 16:34 / Updated on Sunday, 01 March 2026 16:35
Taylor Townsend (29 years old, number 119 WTA) reached the first singles final of her career, in the WTA 250 tournament in Austin, after passing in the penultimate act of her compatriot Ashlyn Krueger (21 years old, number 103 WTA), 7-6 (6), 6-3.
His almost noisy talent Taylor Townsendconsidered a decade ago among the most promising players on the WTA circuit, reached a special level of fulfillment in the 250-category tournament in Austin.
The American player, who will turn 30 on April 16, has had a lot of success in recent years in doubles. He won two Grand Slam titles, Wimbledon 2024 and Australian Open 2025both together with Katerina Siniakova from the Czech Republic. Last season she also became the world leader in doubles, much to the delight of her 5-year-old son, Adyn.
In singles, however, he had a massive backlog, which he adjusted to a good extent at the Texas tournament. Step by step, emotion by emotion, nervous discharge included, he managed to qualify for the final. Her first in her career!
For that he had to come back from 0-4 in the 1st set of the semi-final against him Ashlyn Krueger and prevail 7-6 (6), 6-3 in one hour and 49 minutes.
Taylor Townsend is into her first singles final 📍
Pure joy 🥹#ATXOpen pic.twitter.com/SSxSXqThpy
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) March 1, 2026
Taylor Townsend: “I'm here, I'm not going anywhere”
“I am creating my own legacy and doing it in my own style,” she stated in the on-field interview when asked about all the ups and downs in her career.
“Honestly, now everyone who said crap about me should eat their words“, he added. “I'm here, I'm still here, and I'm not going anywhere. On the contrary, things will go better from now on, so get ready!“.
The route to the final included victories over Linda Fruhvirtova, Nikola Bartunkova and Rebeka Masarova. Against the Czech Fruhvirtova returned from the match ball, and in total she spent 6 hours and 36 minutes on the court, showing resilience in addition to variety and desire.
For the trophy at stake in Austin, Townsend will again face a compatriot, the number 4 favorite of the tournament, Peyton Stearns (24 years old, 62nd place in the world). The two have met just once before, in 2022, in the WTA 1000 main draw qualifiers in Cincinnati. Taylor then won 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Stearns beat her in the semifinals on Kimberly Birrell of Australia, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. For the American, this is the third final of her career and the first on hard. She won at Rabat 2024 and lost in the last act at Bogota 2023, both competitions on clay.
Later, after the singles semi-final, Taylor Townsend booked her ticket to the doubles final as well, along with the Australian Storm Hunter. 1 seeds, they won over the duo Cathy McNally (US), Kimberly Birrell (Australia), 7-5, 6-4. For the title they will duel with the 3 favourites, Eudice Chong (Hong Kong) and Liang En-Shuo (Taiwan).
