Taylor Townsend’s extraordinary run in the US Open singles ended in tearful and agonizing fashion as she let EIGHT match points slip in defeat to Barbora Krejcikova.
The 29-year-old American shot to a strange form of stardom after opponent Jelena Ostapenko said she had ‘no class and no education’ after their second-round match, comments some interpreted as racist.
Townsend has appeared to use this controversy as fire for success as she reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career. And it looked as though she would make a first quarter-final, but in an extraordinary second set she let a match point go before seven came and went in an epic tiebreak which Krejcikova eventually took 15-13.
Townsend saved a couple of match points of her own in the deciding set but went down 1-6, 7-6, 6-3. She left the court wiping away tears.
The left-hander still has a chance to lift some silverware here in New York, as she and partner Katerina Siniakova are No1 seeds in the women’s doubles.
It has been a whirlwind of a week for Townsend at Flushing Meadows, where she was blasted by Ostapenko in a vicious attack on Wednesday.
Taylor Townsend’s extraordinary run in US Open singles ended in tearful and agonizing fashion
The American let eight match points slip as she crashed out against Barbora Krejcikova
It has been a whirlwind of a week for Townsend after her infamous spat with Jelena Ostapenko
After beating her in straight sets, she was accused by the hot-heated Latvian of having ‘no class’ and ‘no education’ when they shook hands.
Ostapenko has denied that her comments were racist, instead stressing that she was referencing tennis etiquette amid a dispute over a shot which clipped the net before she lost the point.
After initially rejecting the racism allegations on social media, she returned to Instagram on Saturday to issue a public apology over the incident.
‘English is not my native language, so when I said education, I was speaking only about what I believe as tennis etiquette, but I understand how the words I used could have offended many people beyond the tennis court,’ Ostapenko said in the apology.
Ahead of her Round of 16 singles defeat, Townsend revealed she has not heard from Ostapenko despite her online apology, although she was pleased to discover that she had accepted wrongdoing.
