Taylor Townsend put apart the controversy over feedback made about her by Jelena Ostapenko to stun fifth seed Mirra Andreeva and attain the US Open final 16.
The 29-year-old American stated her 7-5 6-2 win over the Russian was “larger than me” as she reached the fourth spherical at Flushing Meadows for the primary time since 2019.
Fellow gamers together with Naomi Osaka got here to Townsend’s defence this week after Ostapenko instructed her she had “no training” and “no class” after their second-round match on Wednesday.
Osaka stated these feedback have been “one of many worst issues you might say to a black tennis participant”.
Ostapenko argued with Townsend after dropping 7-5 6-1 and claimed the American doubles specialist had not apologised after a web wire landed in her favour.
The 2017 French Open champion denied any aspect of racism to her remarks and Townsend stated she didn’t assume there was a racial undertone to the Latvian’s feedback.
After claiming one of many greatest wins of her singles profession in opposition to Andreeva on Friday, Townsend instructed the group at Arthur Ashe Stadium: “This feels good.
“All I will say is welcome to the present. I really feel wonderful. I am actually simply proud that I saved the primary factor the primary factor.
“I wish to say thanks to everybody who supported me over these final 48 hours.
“It is larger than me. It is in regards to the message, it is in regards to the illustration, it is about being daring and with the ability to present up as your self and I did that tonight.
“You guys noticed the true Taylor Townsend tonight.”
Townsend, who will play unseeded Barbora Krejcikova within the fourth spherical on Sunday, took simply 76 minutes beneath the lights to surge previous 18-year-old Andreeva with some fearless shot making.
She got here by a tense first set earlier than operating away with the second, hitting a complete of 23 winners.
