Terrific Taylor Townsend stuns Mirra Andreeva in mesmeric US Open win

Taylor Townsend made headlines earlier this week for the storm that engulfed her match against Jelena Ostapenko but instead this time it was her on court craft that will be garnering all the attention. She defeated Mirra Andreeva late into the night on Friday at the US Open.

Townsend came into the US Open 134 spots behind Andreeva in the WTA Rankings but produced the goods to upset the rising teenager 7-5, 6-2 on Arthur Ashe which she said afterwards she has not played a night session on since Bianca Andreescu won the tournament in 2019.

A lot has changed since then for the American who is more celebrated for her doubles play than singles. She is World No.1 and reigning Australian Open doubles champion with Katerina Siniakova but also singles is something that is very much still there. She took Andreeva out of her rhythm superbly and served sublime and cruised to her first top 10 win in more than two years.

She defeated Simona Halep six years ago en route to that meeting with Andreescu but this summer she reached the Quarter-Finals in Washington, third round in Cincinnati so it's been building. Next is two-time major champion Barbora Krejcikova who saw off Emma Navarro who is destined to leave the top 15. It was a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Navarro.

Against Andreeva, it was two early breaks of serve at at 5-5, it proved vital as Townsend produced a third. She served it out with an unreturnable 109 mph serve. Andreeva came out the blocks breaking Townsend for a 2-0 lead but Townsend came back for 2-2 and converted a second break point for 3-2 with Andreeva hitting her backhand straight into the net.

Townsend led 4-2 for the third straight time, Andreeva fell behind but after a double fault, she was reeled in as the Russian faltered and allowed the American to break and seal an insurmountable 5-2 lead. 48 hours after the Ostapenko incident, it was her magic on court that was doing the talking and how good it was as her son and also her coach watched on.

"God damn, this feels good. All I’m going to say is: welcome to the show. I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work. I want to dedicate this win to my coach—we’ve been through blood, sweat, and tears. Also to my son, AJ. He’ll be here tomorrow. He was telling his teachers at school, “I’m going to New York to see my mom.” This just felt so good," said Townsend on court.

I haven’t been in a round of 16 since 2019. I haven’t played a night match on this court since I played Bianca Andreescu, and she ended up winning the tournament. I feel amazing. I’m really just proud that, like I said at the beginning, I kept the main thing the main thing.

"First off, I want to say thank you to everyone who’s supported me over these last 48 hours. It’s bigger than me. It’s about the message. It’s about the representation. It’s about being bold and being able to show up as yourself—and I did that tonight. You guys saw the real Taylor Townsend tonight.

"The last 48 hours have been crazy, and I’m sure the next 48 hours are going to be even more crazy. I have doubles as well, so I hope you guys can come out and support me there. But the job’s not done. I’m happy with what I did tonight, but we’re standing on business and we continue here in New York. Thank you guys so much."

Match Statistics Townsend vs. Andreeva