Taylor Townsend on Thursday pulled off the biggest upset of the young tournament, knocking out reigning Wimbledon champion and popular pre-tournament pick Simona Halep, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6, in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Get to know a little more about one of the few remaining serve-and-volleyers in tennis on the occasion of her biggest career victory:
- Townsend was a junior star. She climbed to No. 1 in the world junior rankings in 2012 after winning the girls' singles and doubles titles at the Australian Open. She backed that up by winning the Easter Bowl singles title and the girls' doubles at Wimbledon, the US Open and the Orange Bowl. After a stint in the pros, she returned to the juniors in the spring of 2013 and advanced to the girls' singles final at Wimbledon, falling to Belinda Bencic in the title match.
- Townsend played her first full season on tour in 2014, checking in at No. 102 in the year-end rankings. She stalled after that, however, not cracking the Top 100 in the year-end rankings until last year, when she finished at No. 74. The Chicago native's career-best singles ranking is No. 61, achieved in July 2018, and her best doubles ranking is No. 64, which she reached in March 2017.
- The 23-year-old American has thrived on the USTA Pro Circuit and ITF Pro Circuit, collecting 10 career singles titles and 18 doubles crowns.
- This marks Townsend's fifth trip to the US Open main draw and her first time into the third round. She previously lost in the first round in 2014, 2016 and 2017, and in the second round in 2018.
- Her first US Open match was against top seed Serena Williams, a straight-sets loss in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Townsend lost in three sets in 2016 to Caroline Wozniacki and in 2018 to No. 10 seed Jelena Ostapenko, both times 6-4 in the final set.
- At age 8, Townsend moved to Atlanta to be coached by Donald Young Sr., a friend of her mother and father of former world junior No. 1 and two-time US Open Round-of-16 entrant Donald Young. After a split of some years, Young Sr. returned to coach Townsend in 2015.
Video: Taylor Townsend 2014 US Open Flashback
