Taylor Townsend has turned a long, stop-start career into a striking return to the later stages of a major. The 29-year-old Chicago native, who won the junior Australian Open at 15 in 2012 and became the first American in 30 years to finish a season No. 1 in the girls’ rankings, beat No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-2 to reach the round of 16.

“I wasn’t searching for anything, I wasn’t looking, trying to find answers,” Townsend said after the victory. “I had all the answers in here.”

Townsend’s path has been uneven. In 2012 the USTA told her to sit out both the US Open girls’ and women’s events because of her weight. Since then she has climbed into the Top 100 and fallen out of the Top 300 multiple times. She has reinvented herself, though, as a top-level doubles player: she is a two-time Grand Slam doubles champion and reached the mixed final last year with Donald Young. “Standing here today with Donald means the world to me because he’s been in my life forever,” she said.

Against Andreeva, Townsend kept control when her opponent threatened a second-set comeback, selecting when to attack and finishing key points. “I’m a totally different person than I was in 2019, and I think that that showed,” Townsend said of the match. “I was so confident and so sure of myself and what I was doing and how I was executing, that it didn’t matter if I hit the back fence, hit the bottom of the net, it didn’t matter. I just kept going.”

The crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium rallied behind her after a confrontation earlier in the tournament with Jelena Ostapenko, who had criticized Townsend’s behavior during a warm-up. Townsend said she did not know if Ostapenko’s comments had “racial overtones.”—”that’s something she can speak on.” “If my son were to see this interaction, how would he view it? I think he would be proud of the way that I handled the situation.” Ostapenko issued an apology on Saturday.

Townsend now faces Barbora Krejcikova on Sunday, a player who won their only previous match in 2017. “That’s what’s really cool about tennis in these moments—you’re able to reflect and look even at the mannerisms and how I carried myself then and now, you’ll be able to see it’s a different woman.”

Jelena Ostapenko returned to social media Saturday afternoon to issue a formal apology for an on-court outburst following her straight-sets loss to Taylor Townsend at the 2025 US Open.

After the 7-5, 6-1 defeat on Wednesday, Ostapenko criticized Townsend for not acknowledging a lucky netcord and later objected to Townsend’s preference to begin their pre-match warm-up at the net. During the match Ostapenko accused Townsend of having “no class and no education” and was booed off Court 11.

That same day Ostapenko posted multiple statements on Instagram refusing to apologize for the incident and denying her widely-condemned words had racist intent against her African-American rival. “I understand how the words I used could have offended many people beyond the tennis court,” wrote Ostapenko, a former French Open champion (IG/@jelena.ostapenko).

Ostapenko had not been requested for post-match press by the media prior to her match with Townsend. She did not conduct a press conference on Wednesday, nor did she attend one for which she was requested after her defeat in the first round of women’s doubles, citing “medical reasons.”

On her Instagram stories Ostapenko offered a fuller apology: “Hi all – I wanted to apologize for some of the things I said during my second-round singles match,” Ostapenko wrote. “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.

“I appreciate the support as I continue to learn and grow as a person and a tennis player. Goodbye New York and I look forward to being back next year.”

At her post-match press conference Townsend declined to say whether Ostapenko intentionally used microaggressive language but responded to the insults directly: “I didn’t back down because you’re not going to insult me, especially after I carried myself a certain type of way with nothing but respect. If I show respect to you, I expect respect as well. That’s just the fact of the matter.”

Billie Jean King says Emma Raducanu has reason to be optimistic about her 2025 form despite a heavy US Open defeat. Raducanu was beaten 6-1, 6-2 by former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the third round of the US Open, but she has shown more consistent form this season and her ranking has risen, currently sitting as the world No 34.

Raducanu is due back on tour with the British team for the Billie Jean King Cup quarter-final against Japan on September 18th. On Raducanu’s communication skills and profile, King observed: “I think it’s huge that you can speak the language of wherever you are.” She added: “Raducanu is very articulate as well, she’s very good at getting up and speaking, covering a lot of subjects. You can tell she thinks about a lot of things compared to a lot of the players.” King underlined Raducanu’s national commitment: “I think we’re really lucky to have her but she likes it, she likes playing for her country.” She concluded: “If I were her, I’d be pretty excited. She’s playing very well, and the main thing is she’s injury-free, her body’s healthy again.”

The British side is expected to include Katie Boulter, Sonay Kartal, and Jodie Anna Burrage, led by captain Anne Keothavong. Japan will be led by four-time Grand Slam Naomi Osaka, with Moyuka Uchijima, Ena Shibahara, Eri Hozumi, and Shuko Aoyama completing their team.

After New York, Raducanu struck a measured tone about progress. “I think you take a few steps forward, one step back, but I think overall I’m working and building towards good things,” the world No 36 analysed. “I’m just enjoying my tennis, for the most part. In the big scheme of things I’m working towards playing better and being a better tennis player, more complete overall and looking forward to going back to Asia. “I’ve never really played an Asia swing, so I hope this year I’ll be able to.”

Many of Raducanu’s defeats this season have come against the sport’s elite, including close losses to Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon and in Cincinnati, and a defeat by fifth seed Anna Anisimova in Canada. Her loss to Rybakina, who is the current world No 9 and has been ranked as high as world No 3, was another meeting with a top opponent who produced a clinical display to reach the US Open fourth round. “Yeah, big time,” Raducanu responded, when asked if her opponents have had to up their game this year against her. “I think when the very top play against me, they have a point to prove that they’re at the top for a reason.

“Every time I’ve played one of them they’ve shown that. While I’m improving, doing better, gaining maybe some more respect, I think the top have definitely raised their game.

“But I’ll take that as a compliment that they’ve decided to really lock in against me, but at the same time it does show I have a lot more work to do.”