New York: In a day of upsets in the women’s segment of the US Open tennis tournament American qualifier Taylor Townsend took a nothing-to-lose attitude into her clash with Simona Halep and quickly found her comfort zone to achieve a stunning victory.
Taylor Townsend, who failed to win a set in three previous meetings with Simona Halep, delivered an aggressive, net-rushing style of play that frustrated the Romanian fourth seed and secured her first career win over a top 10 player.
“I feel like a lot of the times when I was playing her, I played, like, not to lose. A player like that, she’s just way too solid, has had so much experience, that’s not going to fly,” Townsend said after her 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(7-4) victory.
“I was just, like, ‘what do you have to lose?’ I’m just going to go for it, I’m going to do what I do best where I’m the most comfortable, which is at the net.”
Townsend made a second home at the net, which she approached a staggering 106 times during the match to come away with 64 of those points.
Earlier in the day in another women’s singles match, Andrea Petkovic upset sixth seed Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-4. H
However, there were no such problems for defending champion Naomi Osaka who completed a business-like 6-3, 6-4 win over Magda Linette to book her place in the third round.
After struggling with nerves in her gruelling first round match, Naomi Osaka was calm and collected on Louis Armstrong Stadium court, smacking 13 winners and playing stout defence to dispatch Poland’s Linette.
After a one-sided first set, trouble brewed for the World No.1 when Linette raced out to a 3-0 lead in the second on a sun-soaked court. But the 21-year-old Japanese kept her composure and battled back, hitting a deft volley on match point to seal the win before an adoring crowd including former San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick and former Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant.
“Going into this match I was very calm, because I was thinking there is no way my nerves could be worse than they were the day before,” Naomi Osaka told reporters.
“For me, I also had that comfortably of knowing I have played Magda before. I’ve never played (first-round opponent Anna) Blinkova before, so there is also that added stress not knowing what she can do. That stress was taken away today, because I have played Magda in Australia most recently, which was a hard court. So, yeah, I came in pretty confident with my abilities, and I think that showed a little bit.”
World No. 88 Petkovic was the better player in the biggest points, breaking the twice Grand Slam champion Kvitova three times and committing 15 fewer unforced errors on a sun-soaked Louis Armstrong Stadium court.
The 31-year-old German, who celebrated the win by lifting her shirt and pointing to her abs, said she is in a great state of mind despite winning only eight main draw matches this year. “In the past two weeks I’ve been really good with my mental state,” Petkovic said after the match.
Petkovic will be the underdog again when she takes on 25th seeded Ellise Mertens, who trounced Kristyna Pliskova 6-2, 6-2.
Agencies