WASHINGTON, D.C. — Right here, right now, it\u2019s good to be Taylor Townsend.<\/p>\n
Nobody at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, quite frankly, has been better.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s back in the nation\u2019s capital, where she spent three formative years as a teenager training and learning the game of tennis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah,\u201d she told reporters earlier this week, \u201cit\u2019s definitely a vibe. We\u2019re Black Mecca, and so many amazing people of color doing such phenomenal things. That\u2019s why I loved living here, because I felt there were so many, like, people of color that were just doing such amazing things, and, like, it was so inspiring. So many people on their stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
And no one at the moment is on her \u201cstuff\u201d more than Townsend. Maybe it\u2019s the local knowledge — or more likely the overwhelming support she\u2019s feeling here.<\/p>\n
On Thursday she dispatched No. 6 seed Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. It was over in under an hour. Dispatched might be too passive a word, because Townsend hit a blazing 15 aces in eight service games. You can do the math on that one.<\/p>\n
While Townsend, 29, rolled past Kenin, fellow American and No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula was knocked out by Leylah Fernandez in a tense 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 battle that stretched 2 hours and 19 minutes. The Canadian 22-year-old struck five aces — despite nine double faults — and converted two of her five break points in the final set to close out the upset.<\/p>\n
Pegula managed two aces and three breaks of her own but was undone by four double faults and Fernandez\u2019s late surge.<\/p>\n
Townsend and Fernandez will now meet in the quarterfinals, their first matchup this season. Fernandez will be aiming for her first three-match win streak of 2025.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s review the ludicrous week in progress for Townsend:<\/p>\n
She\u2019s ranked only No. 97 in the PIF WTA Rankings, but she\u2019s got a clean card so far, winning all four sets she\u2019s played.\u00a0
\nAlong with first-time partner Zhang Shuai, she\u2019s into the doubles semifinals.
\nWith a win in Friday\u2019s match, she\u2019ll vault into the No.\u00a0 position for doubles, ahead of her usual partner Katerina Siniakova.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really disappointed with the way I played in Wimbledon,\u201d Townsend said afterward. \u201cFor me today, I wanted to do something different. I wanted to show up better than I did. The decision that I made in my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
The singles match out on John Harris was played in another dose of heat and humidity — but Townsend was hotter. The initial game was a portent, as she finished it with three unreturned serves (two of them aces) to win at love. But Townsend was just getting started.<\/p>\n
There were three more in the fifth game of the set, but in the seventh she outdid herself. All four points came on aces, and with a break of Kenin in the eighth, she served out the set with aces No. 10, No. 11 and No. 12.<\/p>\n
Townsend has battled a concussion and a previously undisclosed ankle injury this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many things have put me in a position to say, `Why me,\u2019 \u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m just grateful to be out here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenin is a legitimate player, ranked No. 26, and was looking for her fourth quarterfinal berth. Three years ago, the long, slow climb began here.<\/p>\n
After winning the Australian Open in 2020 and reaching the Roland Garros final — at the age of 21 — Kenin finished as the World No. 4 in back-to-back years.<\/p>\n
A series of setbacks followed, and an ankle injury took her out of play for five months in 2022. She arrived in the nation\u2019s capital at No. 416 in the PIF WTA Rankings and promptly lost to Camila Osorio, her seventh straight defeat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have doubts, but obviously mentally it\u2019s not the most easy,\u201d Kenin told reporters here earlier this week. \u201cI don\u2019t want to go back there again,\u201d<\/p>\n
She won her first-round match over Hailey Baptiste, born and raised in Washington, D.C., but Townsend was something else.<\/p>\n
And after one last point, the crowd rose for a prolonged standing ovation. And Townsend danced a happy dance.<\/p>\n
Right here, right now, it\u2019s good to be Taylor Townsend.<\/p>\n
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