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, 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.
While the loss hurt, it has been a brilliant week for the 29-year-old, who said: “My coach and I have a rule where you get to sulk for three minutes. I took 10.
“It just stings because I literally gave everything. She came up with some really, really great tennis in moments where she was down, and I thought I had it.
“I’m exactly where I need to be. I’m playing the tennis I need to play to be inside the top 20, top 10, to win a grand slam.”
It was Krejcikova in tears on court at Wimbledon in what has been a very difficult season for the Czech because of injury.
She struggled to contain her emotions as she said to the crowd: “What a match. Just four months ago I was off the court, I couldn’t play. I had a huge pain in my back. I didn’t know if I’ll ever be back. Now here I am and this is huge. I still cannot believe that I’m standing here.”
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 tie-break 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.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka also had her most comfortable outing of the tournament so far, beating Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 6-1 6-4.
“I’m super happy with the win,” said the defending champion. “I feel with every game I play, I play better and better. She’s a tricky opponent, made me think in the second set and I’m happy I held my serve and won in straight sets.”
Sabalenka’s opponent in the quarter-finals will be Czech Marketa Vondrousova, who won the meeting of the former Wimbledon champions 6-4 5-7 6-2 against ninth seed Elena Rybakina.
Vondrousova hit 13 aces in an impressive serving performance, while Rybakina was unable to find the same consistency she showed against Emma Raducanu, making 38 unforced errors.
